What's the difference between prolotherapy and PRP?

Prolotherapy typically uses an irritant solution, most often dextrose, to stimulate a mild local healing response and is generally aimed at ligament and tendon laxity or chronic low-grade injuries. PRP uses concentrated platelets from the patient's own blood to deliver a much more potent, biologically active set of growth factors directly to the injured tissue. The two are sometimes used together (for example, dextrose prolotherapy alongside PRP in spine or joint treatment), but they are not interchangeable — PRP is generally the more potent option for tissue with more significant degeneration or damage.

Both have a place depending on what's being treated — the choice, or combination, follows the diagnosis rather than a one-size-fits-all default.