A new method to evaluate the part of stress in pain: injection of dextrose 5% (neural prolotherapy) on acupuncture points corresonponding to stellate, coeliac and mesenteric ganglions. A pilot study

In neuralgia (neuropathic pain), the skin rolling test is painful (allodynia to pinch) but when painful everywhere on the body (polyneuralgia) it often indicates that the patient is in a stress state, in a fight or flight situation. Thus, when starting a treatment, it is important to differentiate between these patients and those who have perineal pain only.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect on pain and stress of a neural prolotherapy treatment (dextrose 5% injections) at seven acupuncture points linked with orthosympathetic ganglia. The studied population comprised 55 patients treated in two private clinical settings (authors 1 and 2).
The short-term effect on pain was studied by comparing the pain induced by the arm skin rolling test before and 15 minutes after injections. To evaluate the long term effect on pain, the average level of body pain during the two weeks preceding the treatment was compared with that following treatment. The World Health Organization (WHO) Five Well-Being Index was used to evaluate the patient’s level of stress before and two weeks after injections.
Fifteen minutes after dextrose injections, pain induced by the skin rolling test at the arm was decreased (-3.0 ± 1.6; p<0.0001). Two weeks after treatment, the global body pain score was significantly reduced (-2.0 ± 2.4; p<0.0001) and the total WHO score increased (+21.0 ± 20.5; p<0.0001).
Treatment of polyneuralgic patients with neural prolotherapy of seven acupuncture points significantly improves well-being sensation and reduces pain.