4 Injuries and Conditions PRP Therapy Can Treat

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy is an innovative treatment that has become popular, mostly because of its amazing ability to reduce pain and accelerate your body’s healing process. The best part is that it’s made entirely of things from your own body and requires no foreign substances.

The platelets in your blood contain amazing healing properties and growth factors that encourage new tissue growth and cell regeneration. PRP is made by placing the liquid portion (plasma) and solid portion (platelets) of your blood into a centrifuge to separate the platelets.

A very high concentration of your platelets is then injected into any area that needs help with inflammation reduction, healing, or tissue growth.

At the Valley Orthopedic Institute in Palmdale and Ridgecrest, California, orthopedic experts Anand Shah, MD, Mehul Taylor, MD, and Adam Amir, DO, lead our team in offering PRP therapy for various injuries and conditions.

This month’s blog examines four conditions and injuries that respond well to this treatment. 

1. Arthritis

Arthritis is the inflammation and swelling of your joints and refers to over 100 conditions. The most common type is osteoarthritis, or “wear-and-tear” arthritis. With this arthritis, the slippery cartilage that lubricates your joints wears away, causing joint pain and stiffness.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to reverse this condition; you can just prevent it from worsening. Common arthritis management methods include pain medications, steroid injections, or even joint replacement surgery.

PRP therapy offers a more effective solution since it can reduce joint inflammation, encourage new cartilage formation, and decrease pain signals.

2. Carpal tunnel syndrome

Using repetitive wrist and hand motions, especially ones that require a constant extension, can lead to tendon irritation and inflammation. As a result, the swollen tendon narrows the channel running through your wrist (carpal tunnel) and pushes on the median nerve, causing pain, tingling, and numbness associated with carpal tunnel syndrome.

Oftentimes, if carpal tunnel syndrome isn’t treated right away, it can get worse quickly and become virtually impossible to treat. PRP therapy can address carpal tunnel syndrome by reducing inflammation which will allow for better tissue healing and regeneration. 

3. Sprains

The 900 ligaments throughout your body connect your bones, muscles, and organs and hold them in place. They also keep your bones from dislocating, support your muscles, and stabilize your joints. It’s fairly common for these tissue bands to get stretched out or torn, resulting in an injury known as a sprain.

Sprains usually happen when a ligament moves in the wrong direction or extends beyond its normal limits. While rest, pain medications, and physical therapy can help treat sprains, some take a long time to heal and may even require surgery if they never heal properly.

PRP therapy can keep surgery from becoming a necessity by reducing any swelling and inflammation to let the ligament fully repair itself.

4. ACL tears

Your anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) runs diagonally in the middle of your knee on the front side. It keeps your tibia in place and also provides much-needed stability to your knee joint. ACL tears are incredibly common in sports that require a lot of quick changes in motion such as basketball, soccer, and volleyball. 

Unfortunately, if you want to continue living a highly active lifestyle, restorative ACL surgery is necessary. What’s worse is that this surgery has a notoriously long recovery period. PRP therapy can help shorten this recovery time by encouraging better tissue healing at the surgical site.

To learn more about how PRP therapy can help your body heal and thrive, schedule an appointment by calling your nearest office location or using our online booking feature today.