Trial reportAnnals of family medicine
Dextrose prolotherapy for knee osteoarthritis: a randomized controlled trial.
Trial report in Annals of family medicine. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. It is linked to 4 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 65 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
The Level of Cartilage Oligomeric Matrix Protein (COMP) and Urinary C-Terminal Telopeptides of Type II Collagen (uCTX-II) After Prolotherapy Intervention and The Functional Outcome in Patient With Knee Osteoarthritis
Evaluation of the Effect of Dextrose Prolotherapy on Pain and Function in Women With Myofascial Pain Syndrome
Isokinetic Evaluation of the Efficacy of Dextrose Prolotherapy Treatment in Women With Knee Osteoarthritis.
Perineural Prolotherapy in Chronic Knee Osteoarthritis Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Who cites it
65 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 183 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effectiveness of exercise therapy for osteoarthritis: an overview of systematic reviews and randomised controlled trials.RMD open · 2026Pooled it
- Exercises plus intra-articular injection for knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review with meta-analysis.Advances in rheumatology (London, England) · 2025Pooled it
- Efficacy of Prolotherapy for Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review.Journal of rehabilitation medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Meta-analysis of clinical trials focusing on hypertonic dextrose prolotherapy (HDP) for knee osteoarthritis.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2022Pooled it
- Comparing dextrose prolotherapy with other substances in knee osteoarthritis pain relief: A systematic review.Clinics (Sao Paulo, Brazil) · 2022Pooled it
- Prolotherapy for Osteoarthritis and Tendinopathy: a Descriptive Review.Current rheumatology reports · 2017Pooled it
- Proliferative injection therapy for osteoarthritis: a systematic review.International orthopaedics · 2017Pooled it
- Hypertonic dextrose injections (prolotherapy) in the treatment of symptomatic knee osteoarthritis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2016Pooled it
- 4-Week Comparative Outcomes of Standard Physiotherapy, Balneotherapy Plus Physiotherapy and Dextrose Prolotherapy in Patients with Low Back Pain: A Non-Randomized Study.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Trial
- Comparison of the efficacy of ultrasound-guided dextrose 25% hypertonic prolotherapy and intra-articular normal saline injection on pain, functional limitation, and range of motion in patients with knee osteoarthritis; a randomized controlled trial.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2025Trial
- Efficacy of Mesotherapy for Pain, Function and Quality of Life in Patients with Mild and Moderate Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of musculoskeletal & neuronal interactions · 2023Trial
- Changes in levels of cartilage oligomeric proteinase and urinary C-terminal telopeptide of type II collagen in subjects with knee osteoarthritis after dextrose prolotherapy: A randomized controlled trial.Journal of rehabilitation medicine · 2021Trial
- Efficacy of Intra-Articular Hypertonic Dextrose (Prolotherapy) for Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Annals of family medicine · 2020Trial
- Dextrose and morrhuate sodium injections (prolotherapy) for knee osteoarthritis: a prospective open-label trial.Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.) · 2014Trial
- Highlighting the Advantages and Benefits of Non-NSAID Treatment After Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Cross-sectional Study.In vivo (Athens, Greece)Trial
- Ultrasound-Guided Posteromedial Fascial-Periarticular Injection for Mild-to-Moderate Knee Osteoarthritis: Twelve-Month WOMAC Outcomes in a Retrospective Pilot Case Series.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Prolotherapy in the Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis: How to Perform.Arthroscopy techniques · 2026Article
- Article
- Article
- Ultrasound-Guided Prolotherapy for Sciatica Secondary to Sacrospinous Ligament Calcification: A Potential and Previously Overlooked Etiological Factor in Deep Gluteal Syndrome-A Case Report and Literature Review.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
5 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
purposeKnee osteoarthritis is a common, debilitating chronic disease. Prolotherapy is an injection therapy for chronic musculoskeletal pain. We conducted a 3-arm, blinded (injector, assessor, injection group participants), randomized controlled trial to assess the efficacy of prolotherapy for knee osteoarthritis.
methodsNinety adults with at least 3 months of painful knee osteoarthritis were randomized to blinded injection (dextrose prolotherapy or saline) or at-home exercise. Extra- and intra-articular injections were done at 1, 5, and 9 weeks with as-needed additional treatments at weeks 13 and 17. Exercise participants received an exercise manual and in-person instruction. Outcome measures included a composite score on the Western Ontario McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC; 100 points); knee pain scale (KPS; individual knee), post-procedure opioid medication use, and participant satisfaction. Intention-to-treat analysis using analysis of variance was used.
resultsNo baseline differences existed between groups. All groups reported improved composite WOMAC scores compared with baseline status (P <.01) at 52 weeks. Adjusted for sex, age, and body mass index, WOMAC scores for patients receiving dextrose prolotherapy improved more (P <.05) at 52 weeks than did scores for patients receiving saline and exercise (score change: 15.3 ± 3.5 vs 7.6 ± 3.4, and 8.2 ± 3.3 points, respectively) and exceeded the WOMAC-based minimal clinically important difference. Individual knee pain scores also improved more in the prolotherapy group (P = .05). Use of prescribed postprocedure opioid medication resulted in rapid diminution of injection-related pain. Satisfaction with prolotherapy was high. There were no adverse events.
conclusionsProlotherapy resulted in clinically meaningful sustained improvement of pain, function, and stiffness scores for knee osteoarthritis compared with blinded saline injections and at-home exercises.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.