Glucose treatment popular

Hundreds of Cantabrians are seeking the glucose-injection treatment cricketer Shane Bond credits with allowing him to relaunch his international career.

Bond this week headed to India in a return to top-level cricket.

He has received courses of prolotherapy from Canterbury doctor John Lyftogt to ease soreness in his lower back. Bond needed spinal surgery several years ago after repeated stress fractures.

Lyftogt said he had a steady flow of patients, including top sports people, for prolotherapy.

The treatment involves injection of glucose solution under the skin, near where nerve damage is causing pain.

Lyftogt said the treatment had been successful, particularly for patients with Achilles tendon injuries.

Black Sticks hockey player Hayden Shaw used the treatment before last year's Beijing Olympics, he said.

"Prolotherapy is sometimes poo-pooed by the medical establishment in New Zealand but is taught quite widely in Australia, and research shows it can be very beneficial," Lyftogt said.

Bond heard last season about the injections performed by Lyftogt, who is based at Queen Elizabeth II Park in Christchurch.

A solution injected into ligaments or tissues where they attach to the bone stimulates the tissues to repair themselves by increasing the blood supply around the area.

Bond said he noticed the treatment was beneficial.

Orthopaedic surgeon John McKie said surgery was not always the best option for every patient, and "alternative treatments" such as prolotherapy could sometimes help ease pain.

- © Fairfax NZ News