PRP for Chronic Pain
If you experience chronic pain from tendon injuries you can finally get relief with a safe, non-surgical procedure. It is called Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) Therapy, and it utilizes platelets from you own blood to rebuild a damaged tendon.
Platelet-Rich Plasma, or PRP therapy has been used to help accelerate the recovery process after surgery or injuries, and to decrease inflammation and ultimately pain. PRP therapy can often delay or even eliminate the need for invasive surgical procedures for patients who struggle with a variety of issues. PRP regenerative injection therapy is a safe, effective, and minimally invasive treatment that helps your body heal quicker, regain function, and reduce or even eliminate pain.
What Can PRP Therapy Treat?
The applications for PRP Therapy have continued to grow over the past decade due to the high concentration of platelets used, which stimulate your body’s natural healing process. Here at our pain management clinic we use PRP Therapy to treat patients suffering from acute and chronic tendon injuries including tendonitis, tendon tears, plantar fasciitis, and many other conditions or tendon injuries in the knee, thigh, foot, elbow, or shoulders. We also see patients who suffer from ligament injuries or sprains in the elbow, hand, knee, foot, ankle, and more
How is PRP administered?
PRP therapy takes approximately twenty minutes to complete and begins with the collection of a patient’s blood. The blood sample is placed in a centrifuge to separate the platelet-rich plasma from the other components of whole blood.
The concentrated platelets are then injected into the site of the injury often using ultrasound guidance for accuracy. Platelets function as a natural reservoir for growth factors that are essential to repair injured tissues. The growth factors that the platelets secrete stimulate tissue recovery by increasing collagen production, enhancing tendon stem cell proliferation, and tenocyte-related gene and protein expression. These growth factors also stimulate blood flow and cause cartilage to become firmer and more resilient. PRP activates tenocytes to proliferate quickly and produce collagen to repair injured tendons, ligaments, cartilage, and muscles.
Will I feel immediate results from PRP therapy?
You will feel a notable increase in pain in the days immediately following the injection. Pain intensity becomes less each day as functional mobility and general functional ability increase along with endurance and strength. You will notice gradual improvement 2-6 weeks after PRP therapy. Some patients report ongoing improvement 6-9 months after PRP therapy is administered. In some studies, Ultrasound and MRI images have shown definitive tissue repair has occurred after PRP therapy, supporting the proof of the healing process. By treating injured tissues before the damage progresses, surgical intervention may be avoided.
Which injuries are usually treated with PRP therapy?
Injuries treated with PRP therapy include rotator cuff, quadriceps, hamstring, Achilles tendon injuries and tennis elbow. Essentially any tendon or ligament injury except complete tears may be treated successfully with PRP.
Is PRP therapy a substitute for surgery?
While many chronic conditions may respond to PRP therapy, and it is known to be a very effective treatment for chronic pain. It is not a substitute for surgery rather a treatment that will aid in tendon and ligament repair. It may be difficult to determine which injury will respond and which will fail.
Most tendons have a poor blood supply and often are the site of microscopic tears or chronic scarring. The body naturally has a difficult time healing these structures.
PRP is thought to initiate a response that makes the chronic condition appear to be a new injury, and thus, provoke a new/renewed healing response.
This new healing response is then augmented by the super-concentrated healing factors contained within the PRP. Therefore, with PRP therapy in combination with appropriate reconditioning, we may improve the chance of healing and diminish the opportunity for escalation of the injury. A positive result may lead to a decrease need for surgical intervention.
