How does PRP help pain?
When you’re injured, your body immediately begins a natural healing process to repair the damaged tissue. Platelets migrate to the site of the injury and start releasing inflammatory signals to trigger the immune response that initiates rapid healing.
Platelet-rich therapy, or PRP therapy, introduces a high concentration of platelets to a damaged or injured area. When platelets are introduced, they surround it and prompt an inflammatory response that triggers your body to send out waves of cells to the area to treat pain and possibly stimulate healing.
How Does PRP Therapy Work?
For our patients seeking PRP therapy in Raleigh, NC, we begin the process by taking a small amount of blood and isolating the platelet-rich plasma using a centrifuge. Once the PRP is separated, we can inject it into the damaged area, whether it’s a tendon, joint, or ligament, to prompt a mild inflammation.
While it may sound counter-intuitive to inflame an injured area, by stimulating inflammation, your body will send out a greater immune response to heal the area. This is a safe procedure that works using your own immune system to relieve the pain of arthritis, tendonitis, or damage from other conditions.
Patients Undergoing PRP Therapy in Raleigh See Results
We have performed thousands of PRP
injections over the years and 90-95% our patients do see an improvement
in symptoms. Sometimes even complete pain relief.
PRP therapy can sometimes eliminate
the need for long-term medication or surgery and improve movement in the
area. It does not work for everyone though.
It’s important to note that patients
who receive PRP therapy in Raleigh, NC are not “cured” necessarily. We
are focusing on elevating your body’s healing process, not necessarily
regenerating tissue. There are only a few studies that show tissue
regeneration.
What about PAIN relief ?
A new study examined many smaller articles relating to pain relief with PRP. Here is the study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5260061/
What did it find ?
– Intra-articular PRP injections probably are more efficacious in the treatment of knee OA in terms of pain relief and self-reported function improvement at 3, 6 and 12 months follow-up, compared with other injections, including saline placebo, HA, ozone, and corticosteroids.
Here are some other studies: https://www.mdlinx.com/journal-summaries/osteoarthritic-knee-intra-articular-injection-platelet/2019/01/04/7552457/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5004020/
What about tissue regeneration with PRP ?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4617215/
Study showing some regeneration of meniscus. There are limited studies that prove regeneration of tissue. https://ard.bmj.com/content/77/Suppl_2/1610.3
Here is another study on tissue healing on MRI….
Our Current Protocol
We are currently using 2 injections about 2 weeks apart for most of our PRP injections. We do change this from time to time based on the evidence that we see coming out.
Areas of Treatment
PRP injections can be performed in arthritic joints, injured muscles, tendons and ligaments all over the body. Some examples include:
- PRP for Muscle strains, Hamstring pulls and tears
- PRP for OCD lesions, Osteochondral lesions
- PRP for Ligament sprains
- PRP for Articular cartilage injury
- PRP for Arthritis Pain (Knees , Hips, Shoulders etc)
- PRP for Acute tendonitis
- PRP for Chronic tendinopathy (tennis elbow, golfers elbow, patella, Achilles)
- PRP for Post-surgery pain
- PRP for Any joint or soft tissue pain not improved with other treatments
- PRP for SI joint pain
- PRP for patellofemoral pain , runners knee
- PRP for rotator cuff tears
- PRP for meniscus tears
While responses to treatment vary, many of our patients at Wake Sports Medicine require a series of 2 to 3 injections. Each injection may be spaced a few weeks apart. There is no limit to the number of treatments you can have as the risks and side effects do not change with the number of injections.
Schedule an Appointment for PRP Therapy
Duke fellowship-trained nonsurgical orthopedic specialist, Dr. Matthew Kanaan, specializes in performing PRP therapy for patients in Raleigh, Durham and Cary, NC. PRP therapy is a highly effective way to provide long term relief to chronic orthopedic pain. Dr. Kanaan will take the time to diagnose your symptoms and discover if PRP therapy is right for you. Call our office at (919) 719-2270 for more information about PRP therapy or to schedule an appointment with Dr. Kanaan.