Felix Linetsky

Dr. Felix Linetsky (born January 22, 1947) is a Russian-American physician in the treatment of musculoskeletal pain who is credited for coining the term “regenerative injection therapy” (“RIT”) to describe a minimally invasive procedure that stimulate the body’s natural healing mechanisms to repair damaged ligaments, tendons, cartilage or other structures.^[1] Linetsky is also well-known for publishing numerous journal articles and book chapters on the topic of RIT, including those that analyze existing scientific literature to establish the effectiveness of RIT for treating musculoskeletal pain. His published works also describe RIT’s practical clinical utilizations and technical aspects. Through such contributions, Dr. Linetsky has influenced the field of pain management by helping to increase the popularity and use of RIT as an effective treatment for musculoskeletal pain.

Early life and education[edit]

Linetsky was born on January 22, 1947, to Samuel Linetsky and Shlima (Bella) Shinkarevskaya in Odessa when the city remained part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

In 1962, at age 15, he began attending Odessa Medical College, earning his degree as a Physicians Assistant (“PA”). During PA school, he worked two nights a week as an orderly in the emergency department, where he attended to patients experiencing surgical and trauma emergencies. This experience significantly accelerated the development of his clinical expertise. Surgeons in the emergency department soon began delegating to Dr. Linetsky the responsibilities of assisting in surgeries, applying casts and suture wounds.

In 1969, Linetsky matriculated to Voronezh Medical Institute in Voronezh, USSR. While in medical school, Linetsky met his wife Lidia, and the couple remains married as of 2022.

After obtaining his medical degree in 1975, Linetsky completed a year of postgraduate training at Children's Hospital #7 in Voronezh, USSR, where he earned a Diploma in General & Orthopedic Pediatric Surgery.

Military service[edit]

After earning his PA degree, Linetsky was drafted at the age of 19 to serve in the Soviet Armed Forces. After attending a short basic camp, Linetsky was detailed to an anti-aircraft missile brigade. He served as a PA, providing medical aid to different battalions for two and a half years.

Professional career and contributions[edit]

Linetsky and his wife immigrated to the U.S. in 1979 after growing disillusioned with the Communist party’s policies and propaganda in the USSR. Linetsky practiced medicine in numerous U.S. cities—including New Jersey, Baltimore, New York, and Boston—before eventually settling in Clearwater, Florida in 1989.

Linetsky changed his practice from emergency medicine to treating connective tissue injuries, and disease through regenerative injections often referred to as “prolotherapy” or “sclerotherapy.” Linetsky became a believer in prolotherapy after he experienced its benefits. In 1991, Linetsky suffered severe musculoskeletal injury and pain, for which he was treated with prolotherapy.

Since then, Linetsky has spent over three decades treating thousands of patients through prolotherapy; teaching prolotherapy to residents, fellows, and physicians at medical schools; and writing multiple medical textbook chapters and medical journal articles about regenerative injection therapy (RIT).

Among his significant contributions to the field of pain management, Linetsky is credited with coining the term “regenerative injection therapy” to more accurately describe prolotherapy and the practice of using interventional regenerative methods to treat painful musculoskeletal pathologies.^[2] Expanding on the work done by Gedney, Hackett, and Hemwall, Linetsky traced the history of using regenerative injection therapy and described the significant clinical strides that began in the 1930s and proceeded throughout the century.^[3] Linetsky also described the evolving terminology used to describe the therapy.^[4] In the 1930s, clinicians started to refer to such injection therapy as "sclerotherapy", which derives from the word skleros (Greek, hard).^[5] In the 1950s, the term “sclerotherapy” gave way to the term “prolotherapy” to more accurately describe “the rehabilitation of an incompetent structure by the generation of new cellular tissue” (derived from the word proli, Latin, offspring).^[6]

Linetsky’s article pushed the field towards a new term: “regenerative injection therapy.”^[7] The term prolotherapy misleadingly centers on the idea of proliferation which is an attribute of malignant, unsuppressed growth, while RIT is a healing process.^[8] Moreover, advances in basic science demonstrate that regeneration extends beyond the proliferative stage of cellular development.^[9] For these reasons, RIT represents a more accurate and comprehensive term to describe non-invasive injection treatments that induce the chemomodulation of collagen through repetitive stimulation that promotes tissue regeneration and repair, mediated by numerous growth factors leading to the restoration of tensile strength, elasticity, increased mass, and load-bearing capacity of the affected connective tissue.^[10] The term “RIT” is now widely accepted and used within the medical field of pain management.^[11]

Linetsky’s journal articles and book chapters have also significantly contributed to the field of pain management by detailing safe approaches for treating cervical pain, outlining step-by-step treatments for hyperosmolar diagnostic blocks, and describing RIT’s practical clinical utilization and technical aspects. Such contributions have helped increase the popularity and use of RIT as an effective method for treating musculoskeletal pain and injuries.

Notable awards and accolades[edit]

In honor of Linetsky, the Florida Academy of Pain Medicine Annual created the “Felix Linetsky Award for Excellence in Education.” The annual award recognizes professional dedication to helping patients receive better care through education.

Linetsky has also been the recipient of the Patients' Choice Award (2018, 2015, 2014, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008); the Compassionate Doctor Recognition (2014, 2011, 2010); and the On-Time Doctor Award (2018, 2016, 2015, 2014). https://www.vitals.com/doctors/Dr_Felix_Linetsky.html

Professional memberships[edit]

• American Academy of Regenerative Orthopedic Medicine
• American Association of Orthopedic Medicine (1991-2008)
• Florida Academy of Pain Medicine

Notable published works[edit]

• "History of Sclerotherapy in Urology", Surgical Physician Assistant, 5:2:30-32, The Pain Clinic, February 1999
• "Use of Prolotherapy for Treatment of Low Back Pain", Surgical Physician Assistant, 5:4:27-31, The Pain Clinic, April 1999
• "Sclerotherapy: Clinical Applications in the Treatment of Hernias", Surgical Physician Assistant, 5:5:46-50, Pain Clinic, May 1999
• Linetsky F, Willard F. "Regenerative Injection Therapy for Low Back Pain"; The Pain Clinic; 1:1:19-23; August 1999
• Linetsky F, Mikulinsky A., Gorfine L., “Regenerative Injection Therapy: History of Applications in Pain Management Part I 1930-the 1950s”, The Pain Clinic, 2:2:8-13, April 2000
• "History of Sclerotherapy in Urology", The Pain Clinic, 2:5:41-43, October 2000
• Linetsky F, Saberski L, Miguel R, Snyder A. "A History of the Applications of Regenerative Injection Therapy in Pain Management, Part II, the 1960s – 1980s", The Pain Clinic, 3:2:6, April 2001
• "The History of Prolotherapy", Chapter 4 in Prolo Your Sports Injury Away, pp. 24-37, R. Hauser. Beulah Land Press, Oak Park IL, May 2001
• Linetsky F, Miguel R., Saberski L. "Pain Management with Regenerative Injection Therapy (RIT)" Chapter 33 in the textbook Pain Management: A Practical Guide for Clinicians (6th Edition), Richard S. Weiner, Executive Editor, January 2002
• Linetsky F, Botwin K, Gorfine L, Jay G, Miguel R, Ray A, Trescot A.et al. "Position Paper of The Florida Academy of Pain Medicine on Regenerative Injection Therapy: Effectiveness and Appropriate Usage", The Pain Clinic 4:3:38- 45, June 2002
• Linetsky F, Eek B, Derby R, Parris W "Regenerative Injection Therapy", Chapter 35 in the textbook Low Back Pain: An Interventional Approach to Diagnosis and Treatment, September 2002. ASIPP, publisher Manchikanti, Slipman, and Fellows, Editors
• Linetsky F, Miguel R, Torres F, "Treatment of Cervicothoracic Pain and Cervicogenic Headaches with Regenerative Injection Therapy", Current Pain and Headache Reports, 8:1:41-48, February 2004
• Linetsky F, Saberski L, Dubin J, Miguel R, Wilkinson H, "Re: Prolotherapy injections, saline injections, and exercises for chronic low-back pain: a randomized study", Spine, 29 (16): 1842-3. Aug 15, 2004
• Linetsky F, Stanton-Hicks M, O'Neill C "Regenerative Injection Therapy (RIT)/Prolotherapy, Chapter 59 in Pain Medicine and Management": Just the Facts, pp. 318-324 Wallace and Staats, McGraw-Hill, 2005
• Linetsky F, Manchikanti L. "Regenerative injection therapy for axial pain. "Techniques in Regional Anesthesia & Pain Management 9(1): 40-49, 2005
• Linetsky F, Derby R., Miguel R, Saberski L, Stanton-Hicks M. “Pain Management with Regenerative Injection Therapy (RIT)” Chapter 62 in Weiner’s Pain Management: A Practical Guide for Clinicians (7th Edition), Mark Boswell and B. Eliot Cole, Editors, pp.939-966, 2006
• Linetsky F, “Re: Sclerotherapy for Baker’s Cyst,” Pain Physician 2008; 11:3:375-383, May/June 2008
• Linetsky F, Trescot A., Manchikanti, L. "Regenerative Injection Therapy" Chapter 9 in Interventional Techniques in Chronic Non-Spinal Pain. Manchikanti L. and Singh V. editors. ASIPP Publishing; 2009, pp. 87-98.
• Linetsky F., Alfredson H., Crane D., Centeno C., “Treatment of Chronic Painful musculoskeletal Injuries and Disease with Regenerative Injection Therapy (RIT): Regenerative Injection Therapy Principles and Practice. Chapter 81, pp.889-912 in Comprehensive Treatment of Chronic Pain by Medical Intervention, and Integrative Approaches. (Editor-in-chief -Deer, Timothy R.) 2013

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