The term “Modern medicine” describes the use of medications, radiation, and surgery to address disease in the human body. While this approach can be effective, medical experts have long understood that working in concert with the human body is preferable. Through regenerative practices like platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy, that’s exactly what we’re able to accomplish.
At Spine & Orthopedic Center, Dr. Rajiv Sood routinely turns to PRP injections to help our patients recover more quickly and soundly from musculoskeletal damage.
If you’re unfamiliar with this exciting form of regenerative medicine, here’s why PRP therapy is so effective.
Your blood contains four ingredients:
Your platelets are flat cells designed to quickly clot your blood to prevent you from bleeding out.
While this role is important, the work of platelets doesn’t end there. Once the threat of bleeding is taken care of, your platelets initiate the wound-healing cascade by releasing resources that help to repair the damage. These proteins, called growth factors, support healing in many ways, including cell proliferation and inflammatory response regulation.
Through PRP therapy, our goal is to create a concentrate of your own platelets and redirect them into areas where your body can use a regenerative boost.
To do this, we draw a blood sample and use a special centrifuge to separate your platelets. We then take this concentrate and mix it back in with your plasma for easy injection into your damaged tissues.
One of the major benefits of PRP therapy is that we’re using resources that already exist in your body. Because the platelets are your own, your body readily accepts the injections, and your platelets quickly go to work to initiate the wound-healing cascade. In this regard, PRP therapy is a relatively safe treatment.
Orthopedic circles have been using PRP therapy for a few decades, and we’re gathering an enviable record of success.
At our practice, we successfully use PRP therapy for several different issues, including:
While we can attest to the efficacy of PRP therapy through our own experiences, we want to draw your attention to this meta-analysis of the use of PRP therapy for knee osteoarthritis. The analysis gathered information from 21 trials and concluded that “PRP injections are beneficial for pain relief and functional improvement in knee osteoarthritis.”
If you’d like to explore how PRP therapy might improve your musculoskeletal health, please contact our Jonesboro, Georgia, office to schedule an appointment.