Pain? Injury?

Everything you need to know about PRP (Platelet-rich Plasma)

What is PRP?

Platelet Rich Plasma, or PRP, is blood plasma with concentrated platelets and other growth factors. Platelets are tiny cells that are critical to healing and the activation of stem cells. The growth factors found in PRP are the same one that grows most all tissue in the human body. They are the body’s primary source of bioactive tissue growth factors and stem cells will not function without PRP or some component of it. These signaling factors instruct the body to send stem cells to the area of damage and at the same time cause the stem cells to reproduce and begin repair. PRP reduces the need for surgery by allowing our body’s innate ability to fix itself!

Conditions Treated

Sports injuries, including tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow, ligament and meniscus tears, spine conditions, arthritic or degenerative joints, rotator cuff and labral tears of the shoulder, osteoarthritis, muscle pain or injury, Plantar Fasciitis, Bursitis, dysfunction of small joint, pelvic pain and instability, as well as auto-immune conditions like Rheumatoid Arthritis. PRP can also be used to reduce the visibility of scars and as a filler for cosmetic purposes.

Photo Activation

AdiStem Ltd. has researched the effect of different monochromatic light intensities and frequencies in the colored spectrum on various human and animal cell populations such as mesenchyme stem cells and white blood cells. Low-level light photoactivation or photo modulation can be utilized for significant benefit in the stimulation of proliferation, differentiation, and inhibition/ induction release of growth factors/cytokines of cells from any living organism. In the body, stem cells and progenitor cells need to be activated by a physiological repair mechanism cascade, for example release of growth factor and chemokines by platelets. When the adipose-derived stem cells are photoactivated for 20 minutes with the Adi-Light 2 device they show increased proliferation and production of growth factors

What to Expect

Depending on the severity and duration of your injury, one to three injections are suggested with a follow-up 1 month after the initial injection. Improvement may be seen within a few weeks, as early as 7-10 days after initial injection and will gradually increase as the healing progresses. Both ultrasound and MRI images have shown definitive tissue repair after PRP therapy, confirming the healing process. The procedure may cause discomfort and soreness locally up to 10 days which should be treated with Tylenol instead of Ibuprofen or any NSAIDS which can decrease the effectiveness of the PRP and suppress the inflammatory response needed to heal and repair the tissue.

Is PRP Right for You?

If you suffer from arthritis, an injured ligament, or tendon injury, and traditional methods have not provided relief, then PRP therapy may be the solution. The procedure is less aggressive and less expensive than surgery. It will heal tissue with minimal or no scarring and alleviates further degeneration of the tissues. Call us to schedule an initial evaluation to see if PRP therapy is right for you!

Platelet-rich plasma or PRP is an “autologous blood therapy” that uses a patient’s own blood components to stimulate a healing response in damaged tissues. Under normal conditions, platelets store numerous growth factors which are released in response to signals from the injured tissue. Modern technology allows us to concentrate platelets and white blood cells from your blood, and induce this growth factor release as we inject the solution directly into injured tissue, simulating this same healing response in a more powerful form. By enhancing the body’s natural healing capacity, the treatment may lead to a more rapid, more efficient, and more thorough restoration of this tissue to a health state which further contributes to the regenerative process.