What Is PRP?
Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) and Platelet Lysate are concentrated platelet solutions. These platelet concentrates contain healing growth factors from your own blood that promote your body’s natural ability to repair itself. The use of platelet-rich plasma injections to treat joint, tendon, ligament, and muscle injuries is becoming well known, thanks to exposure from professional athletes. Platelet injections have a stimulating effect on the repair cells within the targeted area, making those cells work harder to perform their natural job of healing the body. Like all Regenexx® procedures, Regenexx® SCP procedures are performed with high-level imaging guidance to ensure the most accurate placements of cells into the desired area.
Our advanced platelet procedures are more concentrated and purer than platelet-rich plasma injections created by the automated machines used at most regenerative medicine clinics, increasing its ability to stimulate the body’s natural healing response. Platelet procedures are commonly used for soft tissue injuries, mild arthritis, spine conditions, and around nerves.
What Conditions Benefit From PRP?
Advanced PainCare and BioHealth Institute uses platelet-rich plasma injections to ease musculoskeletal injuries and joint pain. Conditions that might benefit from PRP include:
- Torn or ruptured tendons
- Tennis elbow
- Golfer’s elbow
- Arthritis
- Plantar fasciitis
- Chronic back or neck pain
- Chronic knee pain
- Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS)
PRP therapy at Advanced PainCare and BioHealth Institute may prevent or delay the need for surgical intervention. It’s also very low risk and may get rid of the need for anti-inflammatory drugs, opioid painkillers, or other prescription medications.
What Happens During PRP Therapy?
Before making any specific treatment recommendations, Dr. Santo conducts a thorough history and physical exam and reviews all imaging studies to fully understand the source of your pain to provide the right treatment.
For PRP therapy, the team takes a sample of blood from your arm, and in our on-site lab, we separate the platelets from the rest of the blood components. We concentrate the platelets between 7 and 14 times your normal blood concentration, making them ready for injection. By using Regenexx® proprietary protocols we can achieve much higher platelet concentrations (meaning a higher dose) than other providers can achieve with their centrifuge kits. Research shows that dose does matter.
Dr. Santo injects the PRP directly into your diseased or damaged tissue using X-ray or ultrasound-guided imaging. Over the next 6 to 12 weeks, we hope to see less pain and improved function of the damaged area. Sometimes, a second procedure is necessary to achieve optimal results.
