Treatment of cervicothoracic pain and cervicogenic headaches with regenerative injection therapy.

Significant progress has been made in interventional pain management. Despite this progress, patients continue to present a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. Steroidal and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications have limited use in degenerative painful conditions of connective tissue. Regenerative injection therapy, also known as prolotherapy, is a viable, type-specific treatment for such pathology. Several placebo-controlled studies, together with uncontrolled studies, indicate the effectiveness of regenerative injection therapy in treating painful ligament and tendon pathology. As stated in July 2003 by Mooney, this treatment has advanced "from the fringe to the frontier of medical care."