Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) injections are a great option for individuals who have sustained a sports injury or are living with chronic pain. This type of therapy promotes healing and aims to restore damaged areas and help manage your soft tissue and joint health.
How Does it Work?
Blood is made up of liquid, or plasma, and red cells, white cells, and platelets. While platelets are known for the role in clotting blood, they also contain hundreds of growth factors that are crucial to healing injuries. In summary, PRP therapy is essentially concentrated platelets that are five to 10 times richer than normal platelets.
PRP therapy takes a patient’s own platelets and injects them into the area in question. Platelet activation also plays an integral role in the healing of wounds and soft tissue. By using the patient’s own blood, we are able to promote healing of injured tendons, ligaments, muscles, and joints. By injecting a patient with the increased concentration of growth factors, PRP speeds up the healing process, helping the patient become free of their pain and discomfort. There are two main ways PRP therapy is used:
Injected into the injured area
People who have sustained an injury, such as tennis elbow or Achilles tendonitis, will benefit from PRP therapy following an injection directly into the inflamed tissue. After the injection, the patient may actually experience an increase in pain in that area before they start to feel the benefits.
Speed up recovery process following surgery
PRP injections are also used to improve the healing process following surgery for certain injuries. When used in this manner, the PRP will actually be stitched into the torn or damaged tissue, allowing it to sink in and start to repair the area.
What conditions can Platelet Therapy Treat?
PRP therapy is used to treat a wide range of conditions and injuries, including the following:
Chronic tendon injuries
Ligament and muscle injuries
Postsurgical repair
Knee arthritis
Osteoarthritis
Acute injuries
At Texas Partners Healthcare Group, we also use PRP therapy to encourage healing and reduce inflammation. This type of injection is very effective in helping wounds heal and repairing damaged tissue, which is why it is one of the most popular services we offer to our patients. When you come into one of our clinics for PRP therapy, we will start by taking a small blood sample and then put it into a centrifuge which will then separate the platelets from other blood components. The separated concentration of platelets is then injected into the damaged or injured area.
To learn more about this procedure, or to schedule an appointment to see if you are a good candidate, please contact Texas Partners Healthcare Group today. We have four locations throughout Allen, Anna, Dallas or Frisco and would be happy to schedule an appointment for you.