Prolozone has been shown to:

• Decrease inflammation
• Improve oxygen utilization
• Regenerate cartilage
• Kill infection
• Stimulate increased circulation
• Stimulate growth factors (specifically the peroxides from ozone)
• Stimulate stem and blast cells
• Deliver mitochondrial nutrients, bicarb, anti-inflammatories, and oxygen (ozone)
• Eat up free radicals by stimulating antioxidant enzymes
• Decreases acidity in the joint space

Does your condition have pain? If yes, then prolozone can help you. Prolozone is very effective at reducing and eliminating musculoskeletal pain. It can also resolve your condition permanently, but the likelihood depends on the severity of your condition and degree of tissue breakdown.

A list of commonly treated conditions includes: 

• • Arthritis – osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis
  • Carpal tunnel syndrome
  • Chronic back pain and sacroiliac pain
  • Chronic neck pain
  • Degenerated discs
  • Degenerative and arthritis ankles
  • Degenerative and arthritis hips
  • Degenerative and arthritis knees
  • Dental infections
  • Heel spurs
  • Herniated discs – study has shown prolozone is safer, cheaper, less invasive, and just as effective treatment compared to herniated disc surgery.
  • Knee pain and instability, including a torn meniscus
  • Neuromas
  • Non-union fractures
  • Painful scars
  • Pelvic disorders
  • Plantar fasciitis
  • Post surgery pain – typically wait 6-8 weeks after surgery to do prolozone, but deep tissue laser therapy is helpful right away
  • Radiculopathy
  • Rotator cuff injuries and labral tears of the shoulder
  • Scars
  • Sciatica
  • Sinus infections
  • Sprains and strains
  • Sports injuries
  • Tendinitis
  • Tennis Elbow
  • TMJ
  • The list goes on, but you get the picture!

Joint spaces along with ligaments and cartilage have many nerve endings. Once damaged the injury can cause intense pain. And once ligaments have been injured, they cannot regain elasticity on their own because they have a limited blood supply. Prolozone works by increasing blood flow and oxygen utilization to the affected area. This interrupts the nerve signal of pain and reducing inflammation. This increase in blood flow and oxygen provides the damaged tissue with improved nutrition and hydration, both of which promote healing, strengthen injured tissues, and restore normal function. In this way, partially torn connective tissue and ligaments are repaired, increasing range of motion and lessening pain. Prolozone is truly naturopathic because it naturally addresses the ROOT CAUSE of pain, and often eliminates the need for pain medication and/or surgery.

For those with joint pains caused by chronic infections such as Lyme disease and Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV), prolozone shown to have broad antibacterial and antiviral  actions as well. It increases antioxidants in the body to help your immune system fight off bacteria, fungi, viruses, and even protozoa.

Prolozone is VERY different than prolotherapy.

Prolozone is a more complicated procedure with more ingredients which includes ozone gas, procaine, dextrose, b-vitamins, sodium bicarbonate, normal saline, and methylprednisolone. Prolotherapy on the other hand is just procaine, dextrose, and normal saline.

Prolozone has many advantages over prolotherapy, including:

• Prolozone treatment can immediately reduce pain in-office while prolotherapy pain reduction benefits come much later. Because prolozone can immediately reduce your pain, it let’s the doctor know if they treated the right area.
• Prolozone procedure itself causes minimal pain while prolotherapy injections can be extremely painful.
• Prolozone stimulates healing by using oxygen (ozone) to stimulate growth factors and stem cells. Prolotherapy on the other hand uses inflammation (irritation of the joint space) to simulate growth factors and stem cells.
• Prolozone has antimicrobial benefits to kill any infection in the injection area while prolotherapy does not.
• Prolozone requires fewer needle insertions than prolotherapy.
• Prolozone requires fewer treatments (3-5 on average) to reach resolution of symptoms compared to prolotherapy can take up to 5-7 treatments.
• Prolozone can save you money because you require less appointments than prolotherapy.

Prolozone injections are typically into the joint space of the knees, ankles, hips, shoulders, elbows, wrists, fingers, toes etc. Prolozone can also be administered into other areas of pain such as near tendons (for plantarfasciitis for example), superficially over dysfunctional organs (kidneys, liver), into muscular tender points, and under scars to reduce their visibility.

At your first prolozone appointment Dr. Paul Despres will gather your history, perform a physical exam, and recommend a specific treatment plan. He’ll determine the best injection location and exactly which nutrients are indicated for your healing.

The prolozone procedure itself involves the insertion of a needle into the treatment area followed by the injection of two different syringes.

Treatment time can range from 15-60 minutes depending on the number of areas treated and which ingredients are injected.

The first syringe is a solution to prime the area for healing and typically contains:

• B vitamins – improving glucose utilization
• Dextrose – sugar to supply mitochondrial substrate to make energy (ATP)
• Buffered procaine – anesthetic that wakes up injured cell membranes and improves circulation
• Sodium bicarbonate – neutralizes acidic environment
• Very small amount of a steroid (methylprednisolone) to reduce inflammation. This is VERY different than cortisone injections which actually suppress healing.

The second syringe contains ozone gas which delivers oxygen to the joint, increases cellular energy, stimulates circulation, modulates cytokines, and kills any infection.

Sometimes a third syringe is done to make it an even stronger treatment. This is typically an injection of platelet rich plasma (PRP). We also frequently recommend patients get deep tissue laser therapy to further accelerate the healing process.

Prolozone usually results in an immediate decrease of pain and improved mobility as you leave the office. Benefits from the injection can continue up to about 10 days after the procedure as it is stimulating your body’s innate healing pathways.

How many treatments you’ll need will depend on the condition of the area being treated, but typically 3-5 treatments are needed. Treatment will be discontinued once all pain is gone.

The sequence of treatment is typically along this timeframe:

• Day 1 – First injection
• Day 14 – Second injection (two weeks after the first injection)
• Day 42 – Third injection (4-6 weeks after the second injection)
• Day 70 – Fourth injection (4-6 weeks after third injection)
• Day 98 – Final injection and condition is hopefully resolved (4-6 weeks after 4th injection)

Of course, your individual needs may differ and Dr. Despres will help you create a realistic idea of what to expect as you move through treatment. Once the treatment program has begun, the doctor will analyze how you are responding and adjust the program accordingly.

The better your general health, the greater chance you’ll have a full recovery. Sometimes you will need to do some work on other areas of your health to get the best results from your regenerative joint injections. Those who heal slowly, such as smokers or uncontrolled diabetics, take longer to heal and need more treatments.

Chronic condition may need “booster” injections every 3-4 months especially if the location is re-injured, aggravated, or if something else is preventing the healing from happening (such as severe pathology, need for orthotics, infection, etc). For those folks who need to come back every few months, they might need to add PRP or stem cells to the injection.

Most patients notice immediate decrease in pain and improved movement before they leave the clinic. If not, the location treated might not have been the primary cause of pain/dysfunction. The doctor may administer another round of prolozone elsewhere in the same visit.

In general most people experience 20-80% reduction in pain up to 48 hours after their first treatment. Pain may slowly return, but often less than baseline. The goal is to have at least 10-20% delayed improvement between each injection along with improved joint stability and better range of motion.

Benefits from the injection can continue up to about 10 days after the procedure as it is stimulating your body’s innate healing pathways.

To prepare for your prolozone treatment, we recommend you:

• Avoid using anti-inflammatory medications (ibuprofen, naproxen, aspirin) for 24 hours before and 48 hours after a prolozone injection.
• Avoid steroids and cortisone injections for at least 1 week prior.
• Avoid excessive alcohol and sugar consumption the day before and day of treatment.
• No getting sick before treatment
  • If you are acutely ill, please call our office to see if you need to reschedule your appointment. We don’t want your body distracted fighting an infection at the time of trying to stimulate tissue regeneration.

1. Keep the treated area moving with light exercise, but be careful to avoid vigorous exercise even if the pain is gone as it will take 2-3 months to fully heal. Avoid any previously aggravating activities as they can re-injure the joint. Be careful not to overuse the treated area or do too much activity.
2. You may feel pressure or soreness in the injection area. That’s normal and it will subside.
3. Proper hydration and a nutrient-rich diet will help the healing process.
4. Ice may be used on the joint for 15 minutes at least 2-3 times depending on tenderness over the first 48 hours. After 48 hours use hot/cold contrast – hot for 3 min, 30 secs cold, 3 reps, and up to 2x/day
5. Avoid using anti-inflammatory medications (ibuprofen, naproxen, aspirin) for 48 hours after a prolozone injection.
6. Avoid steroids and cortisone injections for at least 1 week after.
7. Avoid excessive alcohol and sugar consumption the day of treatment.
8. Take notes on how you are feeling in between injection appointments, so you can share it with the doctor at your next follow and they can revise your treatment plan appropriately. Has the pain lessened? Able to do more physical activity? Has the character of the pain changed?
9. If the treated area becomes red or hot for more than 6 hours, you develop a fever, or other unusual symptoms occur, call our office immediately – 928-213-5828.

Prolozone is incredibly safe and effective with an excellent track record. Despite numerous studies and clinician experience proving its safety and efficacy, the FDA has chosen not approve prolozone. That’s ok though. At Aspen we don’t need the FDA’s blessing when we know our therapies work and they have low risk of side effects. Our goal is to help you avoid taking pain medications, getting cortisone injections, and needing to have surgery. We are in the business of serving you and offering natural therapies that can change your life.

Prolozone is VERY different than cortisone injections.

1. Prolozone fixes the cause vs. cortisone suppresses the symptoms
2. Prolozone strengthens bones, tendons, muscles vs. cortisone can damage bones, tendons, and muscles.
3. Prolozone rebuilds ligaments vs. cortisone can weaken joints over time
4. Prolozone boosts the immune system vs. cortisone inactivates vitamin D

Yes! Absolutely. Prolozone is very helpful in healing the tissues surrounding the artificial joint including ligaments, tendons, etc. It can help accelerate the healing process post joint replacement including resolve associated pain, swelling, and stiffness of the new joint. We typically wait at least 8 weeks post surgery to do any joint injections into artificial joints.