1 in 5 Americans lives with chronic pain — defined as pain lasting more than three months. Its causes range from musculoskeletal tissue damage and nerve injury to a sensitized nervous system, and its burden is not only physical but deeply psychoemotional.
Conventional treatments — steroids, nerve blocks, NSAIDs like ibuprofen, physical therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy — largely work by numbing pain or reducing inflammation. But what about healing the damaged tissue itself? What about regeneration — so that future injuries don't follow?
That question is at the heart of prolotherapy, an osteopathic modality that uses injections of dextrose (a simple sugar) or PRP (platelet-rich plasma) directly at the site of injury to stimulate tissue regeneration. For more severe tears or pathology, PRP harnesses the growth factors in your own plasma to accelerate healing.
This past April 2026, Dr. Murella attended the American Osteopathic Association of Prolotherapy and Regenerative Medicine conference in Florida — and she left inspired!
The conference was a powerful validation of naturopathic principles.
Medicine is humbling precisely because it never stops evolving, and this conference reminded Dr. Murella why she love this field.
On the first day, she attended an ultrasound workshop focused on guided injections — and, true to form, she enthusiastically volunteered to be the model. She wasn't in pain at the time, just a little sore from workouts and surfing at Cocoa Beach.
But the ultrasound told a different story: a labral tear, shoulder joint effusion, impingement syndrome in her right shoulder, and a meniscal tear in her left knee — all without a single complaint from her.
This was a vivid reminder that pathology can be completely asymptomatic. Injury prevention isn't just about treating pain — it's about identifying and addressing tissue damage before it becomes severe. Fortunately, being at a prolotherapy conference meant she received treatment for all of it on the spot.
The lesson: Don't wait until you're in severe pain to seek care. Come in when it's low-grade. Early treatment prevents larger injuries.
She also left the conference deeply affirmed in something she has long believed: musculoskeletal healing cannot happen in isolation.
Tissue regeneration is undermined by systemic inflammation and nutrient deficiencies. That means addressing elevated glucose or cholesterol, gut microbiome imbalances, hormonal dysfunction, and other root causes is inseparable from treating pain. Treat the whole person — always.
Walking away from that conference, Dr. Murella felt something she always hoped to bring into her practice:
the reminder that the body wants to heal. Our job is simply to give it what it needs.