I just started looking into this, basically it is about healing stretched ligaments, one of those being one that connects C1(atlas) & C2(axis).
Just a quick post with some links as I need to get going, will re-post tomorrow.
Found 2 published studies plus other bits, still reading through it. http://journalofprolotherapy.com/treatment-of-trigeminal-neuralgia-utilizing-neural-prolotherapy/
As far as I can tell traditional prolotherapy is the treatment of ligaments in joints, so for TN it would be injection into the C1 & C2 area to try to stimulate healing/tightening of the ligaments there.
Link below to some you tube videos detailing this, the third one shows a good animation of procedure. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=c1+c2+prolotherapy
Neural Prolotherapy uses same procedure but is targeted at subcutaneous nerves hence uses smaller needles and is less invasive, it is used where it is believed nerve damage/irritation has occurred, usually this would be just under skin.
Likewise, Link to you tube search, nothing directly trigeminal though. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=neural+prolotherapy
So these may be two possible causes of TN, the first being cervical ligament damage, the other peripheral nerve damage.
"Capsular ligament laxity can occur instantaneously as a single macrotrauma, such as a whiplash injury, or can develop slowly as cumulative microtraumas, such as those from repetitive forward or bent head postures. In either case, the cause of injury occurs through similar mechanisms, leading to capsular ligament laxity and excess motion of the facet joints, which often results in cervical instability. When ligament laxity develops over time, it is defined as “creep” (Fig. 33, “Ligament laxity and creep. When ligaments are under a constant stress, they display creep behavior. Creep refers to a time-dependent increase in strain and causes ligaments to “stretch out” over time.”) and refers to the elongation of a ligament under a constant or repetitive stress [34]. While this constitutes low-level subfailure ligament injuries, it may represent the vast majority of cervical instability cases and can potentially incapacitate people due to disabling pain, vertigo, tinnitus or other concomitant symptoms of cervical instability. Such symptoms can be caused by elongation-induced strains of the capsular ligaments; these strains can progress to subsequent subfailure tears in the ligament fibers or to laxity in the capsular ligaments, leading to instability at the level of the cervical facet joints [35]. This is most evident when the neck is rotated (ie, looking to the left or right) and that movement causes a “cracking” or “popping” sound. Clinical instability indicates that the spine is unable to maintain normal motion and function between vertebrae under normal physiological loads, inducing irritation to nerves, possible structural deformation, and/or incapacitating pain.
Furthermore, the capsular ligaments surrounding the facet joints are highly innervated by mechanoreceptive and nociceptive free nerve endings. Hence, the facet joint has long been considered the primary source of chronic spinal pain [36-38]. Additionally, injury to these nerves has been shown to affect the overall joint function of the facet joints [39]. Therefore, injury to the capsular ligaments and subsequent nerve endings could explain the prevalence of chronic pain and joint instability in the facet joints of the cervical spine."
I tried prolotherapy years ago for my TN Type 2 pain. I underwent a series of injections in my neck and face, I believe trying it four times in total over an eight week period. Unfortunately I had absolutely no relief and the injections and aftermath (until the fluid dissipated) was quite uncomfortable. It did nothing for my pain.
Thanks for reply, in your case it sounds like neuro prolotherapy, nerves as the target of the treatment, I imagine this may be effective if there was nerve damage to heal, but if the problem is cervical instability then the ligaments in spine need to be treated.
Hi sparky1, I had researched prolo a while back, since I have gotten a lot of C1/C2 chiropractic adjustments in the past that were helping with my TN1 pain.
I did a search on the forum and there is a person who mentioned it had helped.
Are you thinking of trying it? I have considered it, but am putting it off until I get desperate enough.
At this stage we are still working with posture, physio, exercise, massage and a little bit of the meds etc. and this seems to be working for my partner, although the latest lapse has been slower to recover.
I am looking for the cause and from that hope to find the cure or at least the best possible outcome. Prolotherapy appears to be a possible solution at this point in time.
I did not have injections targeting the C1-C2 ligaments in the back of my neck. Each treatment consisted of 25-30 injections in my face, upper neck area targeting my sternocleidomastoid and other neck muscles which have lots of trigger point issues and my trapezius area.
I have had some chiro work recently that has reduced my neck and daily face pain somewhat, but has not changed my serious facial pain at all. Hope that helps. Would be interested to hear the results if anyone tries the prolo approach in C1-C2. Based on my prolo experience, I would be concerned about prolo injections in that area, but by no means am I an expert on this.
Thanks for added detail, I do believe that there is a neck issue with most TN but still not sure exactly what it is, personally never been a big fan of chiropractic so I tend to look for softer solutions.
When my partners TN is flaring her whole upper body becomes distorted, left upper trapezius tightens. skull seems to shift to right, it all gets unbalanced with various unsymmetrical muscular tensions. When the TN subsides her body regains symmetry again, so looking for both why the distortion and why it manifests as TN?
As she points out her posture is far better than most, so why the TN?
Like all mysteries, when all is revealed it becomes obvious.