It’s tough to keep up with all of the medical advancements out there, especially when you aren’t a doctor. However, there’s one treatment that should be on your radar — platelet-rich plasma therapy (PRP).
PRP therapy has taken the world by storm because of its unique ability to activate healing within the body — and it uses your own cells to do it. At Glaser Pain Relief Center in Encino, California, our team uses PRP to help people heal from numerous injuries and degenerative conditions.
If you have chronic pain, here are four benefits of PRP therapy you shouldn’t miss.
The beauty of PRP is that it uses elements found in your blood — specifically, platelets and growth factors that play a key role in healing injuries.
PRP treatments start with a blood draw. We process it in a centrifuge machine to separate blood components, concentrating the healing growth factors and making them 5-10 times greater than normal.
When we inject your PRP into an injury site, it activates the healing process. And because it comes from your own body, it has few risks of allergic reactions or side effects.
If you’ve ever had a paper cut or skinned your knee, you’ve seen your platelets and growth factors in action. Concentrating them and turning them into a targeted injection allows doctors to put them to work, healing a wide range of painful conditions.
Our team uses PRP treatments for a variety of issues, from ongoing joint pain, back pain, and neck pain to sports injuries and degenerative conditions. Additional conditions that respond to PRP therapy include:
PRP can even help with foot issues, like plantar fasciitis and Morton’s neuroma.
One benefit that’s hard to resist with PRP is how it works to heal the body instead of addressing symptoms alone.
When introduced to an area with damage or disease, the growth factors get to work activating and enhancing the healing process. In response, healthy new cells return to the area. This reduces inflammation and pain, and it restores function in the treatment site.
As a result, PRP treatments can reduce the need for over-the-counter and prescription pain medications. They can even delay or prevent the need for more invasive treatments, such as surgery.
Unlike more invasive forms of treatment, our team can perform PRP therapy during an office visit — no trips to the hospital required. And the treatments usually don’t come with any downtime.
PRP treatments typically take less than an hour, but it can take a few weeks before you start seeing improvements in the treatment site. In fact, it’s common for symptoms to worsen slightly at first as the healing process gets underway. But they subside in the weeks and months to come as healthy new cells return to the area.
Depending on your pain condition or injury, our team may recommend a series of PRP injections for the best results. We provide personalized recommendations on a case-by-case basis.
To experience the benefits of PRP therapy for yourself, schedule a consultation at Glaser Pain Relief Center by contacting our office by phone or online today.
