Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy
Doctor In Snellville, GA
As a Doctor of Chiropractic and Medical Doctor I have always known that the body has the ability to heal itself. In chiropractic school we called it the body’s innate ability to heal it self. In medicine, over the past few years it was discovered that utilizing Platelet-rich plasma therapy is a form of regenertive medicine that can harness those abilities and amplify the natural growth factors your body uses to heal tissue.
What is plasma and what are platelets?
Plasma is the liquid portion of whole blood. It is composed largely of water and proteins, and it provides a medium for red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets to circulate through the body. Platelets are blood cells that cause blood clots and other necessary growth healing functions.
Platelet activation plays a key role in the body’s innate healing ability.
What is platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections?
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy uses injections of a concentration of a patient’s own platelets to accelerate the healing of injured tendons, ligaments, muscles and joints. In this way, PRP injections use each individual patient’s own healing system to improve musculoskeletal problems.
These activated platelets are then injected directly into your injured or dis-eased body tissue. This releases growth factors that stimulate and increase the number of reparative cells your body produces.
Platelet-rich plasma has been found to significantly enhance the healing process, and using a PRP injection for joint pain and for other soft-tissue injuries. PRP has also been demonstrated to improve function and reduce pain in people who have tenonditis or chronic tendinosis.
Some of the key advantages of PRP injections are that they can reduce the need for anti-inflammatories or narcotic medication. In addition, the side effects of PRP injections are very limited because, since the injections are created with the patients own blood.
However, this treatment is not FDA approved and as a result is not currently covered by insurances. But has had success with relieving pain by promoting the bodies innate ability to heal itself.