Platelet-rich plasma therapy utilizes your body's cells to enhance the healing process and speed up recovery. It's a simple procedure that requires a blood draw and injection but has unprecedented results.
At Orthopaedic Specialists, we provide excellent care and cutting-edge treatments for orthopaedic conditions and injuries. Board-certified orthopedic surgeon Dr. Brandon Down offers PRP to speed healing and supplement conservative remedies.
Platelet-rich plasma, or PRP, is a form of regenerative medicine that utilizes the cells from your body to accelerate the healing process. Platelets and plasma are the main components of treatment because they contain specialized growth factors.
Platelets are the blood cells on the scene when you have an injury. They clump together to form clots that stop bleeding after a cut or laceration. However, they're more potent than that.
Platelets carry growth factors that are essential in healing. These growth factors stimulate the body's natural healing by promoting cell and tissue regeneration.
The PRP process is relatively simple; it requires a blood draw from your arm and a machine called a centrifuge. After the blood draw, we spin the blood down in the centrifuge to separate the platelets and plasma from other blood components.
We take the plasma and platelets that remain and inject them into the treatment area. PRP begins working immediately to stimulate healing after surgery or an injury.
A significant benefit of PRP is its ability to speed up the healing process. The concentration of platelets in PRP ensures extra growth factors to the injury site. Other ways PRP accelerates the healing process include:
An advantage of PRP injections is that they control the inflammatory process, aiding recovery. The growth factors stimulate the healing process, which controls inflammation and aids healing.
Growth factors are an essential part of PRP injections. They stimulate collagen and new blood vessel growth to repair damaged tissues and cells around an injury or surgical site and accelerate the healing process after an injection.
Collagen glues the damaged tissues, allowing for strong and flexible connective tissue. The growth factors in PRP stimulate increased collagen production, forming the framework for new cell growth and ultimately healing tissue damage.
After a PRP injection, you can expect to feel a little discomfort for a few hours. We typically include a local anesthetic in the injection to cut back on pain.
You won't notice any changes immediately because the platelets require time to work. However, over the next few weeks to months, you should begin to see a change in pain and healing of the injury.
Most people see improvement within six weeks of a PRP injection, but it could take up to six months. PRP takes a little longer to work on joints and arthritis, up to six months in some cases.
Call Dr. Downs at Orthopaedic Specialists today to schedule a PRP appointment at one of our five offices in the Nashville, Tennessee, area, or request a consultation on our website.
