Glucopuncture in treating fascia referred anterior ankle pain: a binational clinical case series
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.2478/AMB-2025-00033Keywords:
glucopuncture, D5W injection, fascia pain, referred pain, fascia systemAbstract
Chronic anterior ankle pain can be referred from trigger points in the fascia of the ipsilateral tibia. One of the new emerging therapeutic options is treating these trigger points with superficial injections of dextrose 5% water (D5W) or glucopuncture. In this article, we present two cases of chronic fascia referred anterior ankle pain from two different countries treated successfully with D5W injections during several sessions. It is worth noting that the pain region itself has not been injected. Glucopuncture may serve as a potential treatment option since it is a safe, simple, and low-cost procedure to be performed by clinicians globally, including those residing in low-income countries. This finding might trigger for further large, multinational clinical studies to confirm its efficacy in chronic fascia pain.
References
Suarez-Rodriguez V, Fede C, Pirri C, et al. Fascial innervation: A systematic review of the literature. Int J Mol Sci. 2022;23(10):5674.
Bordoni B, Varacallo M, Morabito B, Simonelli M. Biotensegrity or fascintegrity? Cureus. 2019;11(6):e4819.
Stecco C, Macchi V, Porzionato A, et al. The fascia: The forgotten structure. IJAE. 2011;116(3):127-38.
Jin Q, Chang Y, Lu C, et al. Referred pain: Characteristics, possible mechanisms, and clinical management. Front Neurol. 2023;14:1104817.
Cao Q, Peng B, Wang L, et al. Expert consensus on the diagnosis and treatment of myofascial pain syndrome. World J Clin Cases. 2021;9(9):2077-89.
Hamad A, Ashwag A, Nojoud A, et al. Efficacy of lidocaine versus mepivacaine in the management of myofascial pain. SPJ. 2020;28(10):1238-42.
Kersschot J. Glucopuncture for rotator cuff related shoulder pain. Clin Rev Cases. 2022;4:1-4. 8.
Kersschot J, Lam K, Suryadi T, et al. Treatment of failed back surgery syndrome with regional sugar water injections: A clinical case report. Med Res Arch. 2023;11(12).
Nurhasanah L, Kersschot J, Lam K, et al., editors. Injections of dextrose 5% in water (D5W) for hip joint pain and stiffness. Korea Anesthesia Congres, Seoul; 2023.
Solmaz İ, Akpancar S, Orscelik A, et al. Dextrose injections for failed back surgery syndrome: A consecutive case series. Eur Spine J. 2019;28(7):1610-7.
Ho T, Chen S, Li T, et al. Prognostic factors in carpal tunnel syndrome treated with 5% dextrose perineural injection: A retrospective study. Int J Med Sci. 2021;18(9):1960-5.
Lam K, Kersschot J, Suryadi T. A novel treatment of fascial pain with glucopuncture: Three clinical cases. Cureus. 2024;16(5):e59544.
Kersschot J. Treatment of Fascial Pain with Glucopuncture. Int J Sci Res Arch. 2024;11:1227-34.
Kersschot J, Gharaei H, Mathieu T, Ferrie J. Management of medial tibial stress syndrome with glucopuncture. A clinical case. Med Res Arch. 2024;12(5):1-7.
Kersschot J. Treatment of sports injuries with glucopuncture. Arch Biomed Eng Biotechnol. 2021;5(1):1-4.
Stecco C, Pirri C, Fede C, et al. Dermatome and fasciatome. Clin Anat. 2019;32(7):896-902.
Kim M, Na Y, Moon J. Comparison on treatment effects of dextrose water, saline, and lidocaine for trigger point injection. Ann Rehabil Med. 1997;21(5):967-73.
Kersschot J. History of glucopuncture. World J Adv Res Rev. 2024;21(01):1925-33.
Han D, Lee C, Shieh Y, et al. A role for substance P and acid-sensing ion channel 1a in prolotherapy with dextrose-mediated analgesia in a mouse model of chronic muscle pain. Pain. 2022;163(5):e622-e33.
Wu Y, Chen Y, Lam K, et al. Mechanism of glucose water as a neural injection: A perspective on neuroinflammation. Life. 2022;12(6):832.
Wu Y, Ho T, Chou Y, et al. Six-month efficacy of perineural dextrose for carpal tunnel syndrome: A prospective, randomized, double-blind, controlled trial. Mayo Clin Proc. 2017;92(8):1179-89.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 G. Darmawan, J. Kersschot (Author)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
You are free to share, copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format under these terms.