Why are Dextrose injections in tendons not more widely used for pain management treatments?

I had pain in my knee for over 20yrs, got these injections once a month for 4 months and I now have no pain at all. I had to pay for them myself, but it was well worth it. I swear by them and am now trying them on my elbows for repetitive lifting strains. They work on the tendons and from what I am told, tighten them. These are NOT steroids or Cortisone injections. Ask your Doctor!!! There could be some hope!!!

WSIB doesn't cover the expense either...for whatever reason and you are looking at dishing out about $250.00 per treatment.

The reports of the studies of ultrasound guided dextrose injections in tendonoses have only been out about 1 year, though the procedure has been being used in limited areas for longer. To this date, I don't know of a large scale (being over 500 patients) study being done, though the early studies have shown good results. The tendons this has been attempted on, for the most part have been the larger Achilles and infrapatellar tendons. Once the studies come out, it takes time for the discussions to diseminate to enough continuing education meetings for widespread use to occur. I would imagine you will see more of this done by orthopedics and podiatry than pain management, as it is more of a treatment of the condition rather than a method of managing chronic or severe pain.

Once the use of this treatment becomes more common, and is a generally accepted method for managing severe tendonitis, then insurance will probably begin to consider reimbursement for the procedure. Insurance carriers will almost always wait until a treatment is the generally accepted standard of care before adding it, as they can delay their costs for longer.