If you’ve been experiencing a life defined by constant pain from a chronic condition or orthopedic injury, it can often feel like you’re sitting on the sidelines of life. Perhaps you’ve tried different remedies and treatments that only provided temporary relief, leaving you tired and frustrated as you continue to search for answers. In your quest to find lasting relief, you may have come across a type of Regenerative Medicine called PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma). But what exactly is PRP Therapy and what can it help treat?
As you read on, we’ll break down what PRP is, how it works, and what it’s used for, so you can get a better understanding of whether PRP Therapy is right for you.
What is PRP Therapy, and how does it work?
To properly understand PRP Therapy, it’s important to first know what’s found inside your blood. Your body’s blood consists of red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma, and platelets. Your blood has about 150,000 – 450,000 platelets per cubic centimeter (talk about a lot of platelets!). These ingredients in your blood are used in your body’s natural healing process, especially during inflammation.
When your body begins to heal, these platelets are activated, releasing healing proteins called growth factors that provide regenerative cells to the body. These growth factors help your body’s tissue heal properly. When more platelets are found in the blood in an injured area of the body, the body will heal more quickly.
Enter PRP Therapy. Utilizing the body’s natural healing processes described above, PRP essentially supercharges the healing process by targeting the injured areas of the body with an extra dose of your body’s platelets.
You’ve heard the saying, “many hands make light work.” The same principle applies here to PRP Therapy. Through the process of drawing your blood, doctors concentrate the platelets inside into four to five times the average amount and then return these platelets directly into the area of your body that’s injured with a PRP injection. What results is that your body’s healing response is kicked into overdrive, dramatically speeding up your healing. As a natural, readily available, and cost-effective healing treatment, PRP presents an ideal solution for recovering from chronic pain and orthopedic injuries.
PRP has been around for a few decades now, first being used in the early 1990s. It’s gained more traction in recent years as professional athletes have advocated its use for their sports injuries. What’s great about PRP is that you don’t have to be an athlete to appreciate its benefits. It’s a regenerative medicine that can work for regular people like you and me!
PRP Therapy and Anti-Inflammatory Drugs
When your body starts to heal, inflammation naturally occurs in the injured area of the body. As we’ve discussed earlier, when this happens, platelets in your blood release growth factors that help quicken the healing process. Knowing this, you would think that inflammation has been widely embraced as a positive in the medical community, right?
It’s been just the opposite. For years, the medical community has thought of inflammation as a bad thing to be avoided as much as possible. This belief has been reinforced by doctors’ advocacy of using non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (also called NSAIDs) like ibuprofen, as well as steroids, to fight against inflammation.
However, we now know how slowing inflammation prevents your body’s natural healing process from occurring by preventing these repair cells we’ve discussed earlier from helping your injury. Where anti-inflammatory drugs disrupt your body’s natural healing tools, PRP Therapy allows your body to get an extra dose of these healing tools. If you’ve been frustrated over trying anti-inflammatory drugs through the years to deal with your injuries, PRP could be the alternative treatment you need. But what kinds of injuries and conditions can PRP best help to heal?
Conditions and injuries that may benefit from PRP Therapy
When you’re experiencing chronic pain, every day is a reminder of your body’s need for healing. At the Albano Clinic, we believe PRP Therapy may be just what you need to feel better and get back to enjoying life on your terms. Thankfully, PRP can treat a variety of injuries and conditions, including:
- Tendon Injuries – Tennis or golfer’s elbow, rotator cuff (shoulder), Achilles, knees, hip
- Ligament Injuries – MCL & LCL (knees), lateral ankle, pitcher’s elbow, skier’s thumb
- Muscle Injuries – Hamstrings and quadriceps (upper leg), biceps and triceps (arm), calf, ribs
- Cartilage Conditions – Osteoarthritis, meniscal tears in knees, labral tears in shoulders and hips, TFCC tears (wrist)
- Nerve Injuries – Carpal tunnel (wrist), cubital tunnel (elbow), tarsal tunnel (foot), sciatic nerve (buttocks)
- Aesthetic Treatments – Microneedling for facials, breast lifts, and hair loss
- Sexual Health – A sexual dysfunction in both men and women
- Other Injuries – plantar fasciosis, shin splints, knee pain, stress fractures, turf toe
Reclaim Your Life with PRP Therapy
At the Albano Clinic, we believe no one should have to keep living a life defined by pain and dysfunction. If you’ve been struggling with any of the conditions listed above, we’d love to help you explore whether PRP Therapy could be the right treatment for you. Since 2007, Dr. Joseph Albano has used PRP therapy to help his patients in Utah heal faster and return to the life they love. With our help, you can move better, feel better, and live better!
If you’d like to learn how PRP Therapy can help you find lasting relief, schedule an appointment with us today.