You’ve heard of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy and its ability to help people heal more quickly—and you want to learn more. Here, we take a closer look at the power of the platelets in your body.
Maybe you find yourself waking up with increasingly achy knees. Or perhaps you’ve injured a tendon or ligament in your joint while playing your favorite sport. Whatever the problem, the odds are that you may benefit from our regenerative therapies, namely platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy, which taps your body’s own incredible resources for faster and stronger healing.
At Valiant Life Medical, our team prides itself on staying abreast of the latest science and cutting-edge therapies that address joint problems of every kind, and we’re particularly excited about the early success of regenerative medicine. This branch of medicine taps the human body’s amazing ability to repair and rebuild itself from within, on a cellular level, for long-lasting results.
Let’s explore how our PRP therapy is changing the way we approach joint disease and injury.
Given all that they do in terms of mobility, support, and range of motion, it’s hardly a surprise that joint pain can crop up. Heading the list of joint problems is arthritis, which is a catchall term for any disease that leads to pain and inflammation inside your joint.
The statistics surrounding the prevalence of arthritis in the United States are eye-opening with more than 54 million people diagnosed with the joint disease. More sobering is the fact that nearly 44% of these people report limitations in their normal activities because of arthritis. This problem is projected to get much worse over the next few decades as experts predict that we’ll reach more than 78 million diagnoses by 2040.
Outside of arthritis, injury is another leading cause of joint pain. Whether it’s a repeated stress problem like tendonitis or an acute injury like a ligament tear, your joints often take the brunt of most musculoskeletal injuries.
If you’re struggling with arthritis, the bad news is that there’s no cure for the disease, which leaves you addressing the problem on a symptomatic basis. For joint injuries, there are interventional techniques that can help repair damaged tissues, but recovery can be a long haul.
In both of these cases, regenerative medicine, including PRP therapy, can play a critical role. The platelets in your blood are largely responsible for clotting, but they also contain growth factors and other specialized proteins that aid in healing and repair while reducing inflammation. By redirecting these substances into your injured tissue, we provide your damaged joint with the additional resources it needs to rebuild itself and heal more quickly.
With PRP therapy, we draw a sample of your blood and isolate the platelets in a centrifuge. We then mix these platelets back in with your plasma, creating a concentrate that’s 5-10 times more powerful than normal. Lastly, we inject the solution directly into your damaged joint, using X-ray guidance wherever necessary.
Most of our patients benefit from a series of PRP injections, which we space apart by several weeks to allow time for your body to repair and rebuild itself. As you progress through your treatments, you’ll gradually regain pain-free mobility in your damaged joint, and the treatments themselves don’t necessitate any downtime.
If you’d like to learn more about our game-changing PRP treatments, please contact our office in Fort Worth, Texas, to set up an appointment.
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