Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy
Platelet rich plasma (PRP) is a powerful therapy that relieves pain and facilitates recovery from all types of acute and chronic injuries. PRP harnesses the healing power of platelets—components in the blood that initiate and regulate tissue repair—by delivering concentrations of the body’s own platelets directly to damaged or degenerated areas.
Surgeons have been using PRP for years to enhance healing of bones, surgical incisions, and other tissues, and many elite athletes are now benefiting from this therapy’s ability to speed recovery from sprains, strains, cartilage damage, and other injuries. However, PRP’s greatest potential may be to relieve pain and restore function in patients suffering with chronic neck and back pain or with arthritis of the hip, knee, and other joints.
How Does PRP Work?
Platelets are nature’s reservoirs of proteins, peptides, and other compounds that facilitate healing. They include clotting factors to stop bleeding; inflammatory chemicals to drive the acute phase of the healing process; and growth factors to promote tissue regeneration and the formation of blood vessels that nourish new tissues. PRP treatment simply directs and amplifies the natural healing process.
Because PRP is an “autologous” procedure, meaning it’s derived or transferred from the patient’s own body, it’s exceptionally safe. It’s also minimally invasive, well-tolerated, and requires little to no recovery time. Finally, it costs a fraction of the price of any surgical procedure.
A Typical Treatment
PRP treatment at Whitaker Wellness involves removing a vial of a patient’s own blood and spinning it in a centrifuge to separate out the red blood cells, plasma, and other components. This produces a very small amount of concentrated platelets (5–10 times the amount in whole blood) in a little plasma (the clear, liquid part of blood). The patient’s PRP is then placed in a syringe and injected into the affected area, which is numbed beforehand to make the injection more comfortable. A single injection to each site is all that is usually needed, although some patients require additional treatments, spaced out over time.
Within a few weeks, the regeneration process that PRP stimulates becomes evident, with often dramatic improvements in pain, range of motion, function, and quality of life.
