Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) Therapy is an innovative non-surgical treatment option for people with chronic pains, strains and injuries, particularly those that affect soft tissue areas. It involves the use of an injection of the patient’s own concentrated blood platelets. These concentrated blood platelets, when injected into the injured area, have been found to be very effective at healing injuries and eliminating pain.
PRP therapy allows us to offer our patients an additional conservative treatment option for their pain. It is performed safely at New York Bone & Joint Specialists offices and relieves pain without having to use general anesthesia, having to stay at a hospital, needing to get stitches, going through a long recovery process, or undergoing the risks of surgery.
UNDERSTANDING THE PROCEDURE:
Platelet-Rich Plasma Injection Therapy is a breakthrough in regenerative medicine for treating slow-healing conditions such as Tendinitis, Osteoarthritis, or Sports Injuries. Many elite athletes opt for the injection treatment to eliminate pain and promote healing, without any of the recovery time needed after surgical correction.
Dr. Leon E. Popovitz, MD and Dr. Michael Y. Mizhiritsky, MD have been administering these injections over a span of the last number of years, helping athletes and patients with a variety of musculoskeletal injuries experience more rapid, profound pain relief.
PRP Therapy depends on the healing power of your own body. The PRP therapy process begins by taking a sample of your own blood, which is then set in a centrifuge in order to separate the platelets from the plasma. After being centrifuged, the activated platelets are injected into the abnormal tissue, releasing growth factors that recruit and increase the proliferation of reparative cells. This cutting edge procedure gathers a concentrate of your own platelets and releases them directly into your damaged tissues, thereby reducing inflammation and encouraging regeneration.
Dr. Leon E. Popovitz, MD and Dr. Michael Y. Mizhiritsky, MD, New York’s PRP therapy experts, re-inject your body’s platelets directly into the affected tissues, using an ultrasound image for guidance. You may immediately return to your daily routine. While you might feel some soreness in the area for a day, there is no recovery time or therapy needed.
THE BENEFITS OF PRP THERAPY:
- PRP therapy was used to treat many elite athletes before it became a standard treatment. Years of experimentation have proved it causes very limited side effects with a low risk of negative reaction, since the medicine comes directly from your own body.
- There is no recovery time needed after this minimally invasive procedure, which is an optimal way to promote healing without undergoing surgery.
- This therapy can help those who are not responsive to, or are allergic to corticosteroid injections.
- PRP aims to heal tissues rather than only treat symptoms.
WHAT IS PRP USED FOR?
PRP therapy is used to treat chronic conditions and induce healing in tissues that are slow to repair, especially tendons and ligaments. PRP injections most commonly treat:
- Osteoarthritis of the shoulder, knee, hip & spine
- Rotator cuff strains & tears
- ACL and other knee injuries
- Sports injuries of the shoulder
- IT band syndrome
- Muscle strains & tears
- Tennis elbow, golfers elbow
- Chronic knee pain
- Plantar Fasciitis
- Tendinitis & ligament sprains
- Back & Neck injuries/pain
- Sacroiliac joint pain
- Sciatica
HOW LONG DOES PRP THERAPY LAST?
Each PRP Therapy session lasts around an hour, which includes the preparation as well as the recovery, and patients are fine to go home the same day when the procedure is finished. Most patients are actually able to return to their jobs or normal routine right after the procedure.
Patients receiving PRP Therapy generally require 3-4 injections that are spaced 2-3 weeks apart, and full recovery from each injection is about a week. Following treatment, physical therapy is often prescribed to help the patient rebuild their strength and function in the injured area.
For more information on PRP Treatment, see the article from Leon E. Popovitz, MD, “The Truth About PRP Injections.”
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