ABSTRACT

A convergence of knowledge, both old 94and new, holds great promise in reducing the burden of musculoskeletal pain and dysfunction. This potential has been demonstrated through centuries of manual therapies and 80 years of clinical experience in prolotherapy (i.e. injection to stimulate repair at ligament and tendon entheses), yet it has been limited by a mechanistic understanding of orthopedic pathology. Biotensegrity, a new form of functional anatomic modeling, and ultrasonography, high-resolution dynamic imaging of living tissue, now provide us with the vision of a path forward in nonsurgical, interventional orthopedics. Two case studies will illustrate this shift.