A new addition in care to Orthopedics and Sports Medicine is Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) therapy.
A primary benefit of PRP therapy is its power to channel your body’s natural ability to repair itself by healing damaged or diseased tissue.
It continues to be an effective treatment for a wide range of orthopedic conditions and athletic injuries, which promotes the acceleration of healing and potentially preventing surgery. Undoubtedly, our patients that have struggled with injury or degenerative disease to the musculoskeletal system will significantly benefit from PRP therapy.
Platelets are naturally found in your blood and are a rich source of protein called “growth proteins.” If you have ever experienced a serious injury or dealt with disease to your muscular system, platelets will rush to that area of trauma to stimulate new cell growth and accelerate tissue repair.
PRP contains an exponential concentration of platelets than the amount normally found in your blood. PRP is created when your platelets are separated out from your blood by using a centrifuge to be injected to the site of injury.
Your doctor may combine stem cell therapy and PRP therapy depending on the severity of your injury or disease. Stem cell therapy consists of using your adult stem cells, which are found in your bone marrow. A concentrated amount is then injected into the damaged tissue, which will continuously self-replicate then regenerate the specific types of cells needed to heal the problem area.
Ultimately, these therapies work together to recruit stem cells to the area and increase the stem cells’ effectiveness.
PRP therapy helps with a broad range of orthopedic conditions and degenerative diseases which include:
Your doctor prepares you for a PRP therapy procedure by first numbing the targeted area. The next part of the process involves drawing blood from a vein in your arm and spinning the sample in a centrifuge to separate the blood from the plasma in order to achieve a high concentration of platelets. After this step is complete, ultrasound imaging is used to guide a needle to the region where the PRP will be introduced into the damaged tissue.
As soon as the platelets are placed into the tissue, they begin to function to:
The growth proteins are also responsible for many aspects of the healing process that takes place. Those factors increase blood vessel growth and prevent the degeneration of soft tissues.
