PRP treatment, which is also known as platelet rich plasma, has become the preferred treatment of elite athletes in order to help them recover from injury. PRP treatment involves injecting the patient with their own treated blood to accelerate, advance and encourage the healing of soft tissues. More recently, PRP injections are also being used to promote hair growth and reduce hair loss.
Platelets are small circular cell fragments found in blood and assist in clotting. Moreover, platelets also contain proteins which have wound healing properties. The main idea behind PRP treatment is that by injecting a sufficient amount of platelets into tissues that are highly inflamed and/or damaged promotes healing.
Treatment begins by drawing a sample of blood from the patient and using special medical equipment to separate the platelets from all of the other components of the blood. The resulting highly concentrated platelets have as much as ten times the healing properties over regular blood.
Here are some of the available treatments utilizing PRP Therapy:
Usually, it is only the affected area which is treated with a PRP injection that requires rest. Regular daily activities can be resumed within 30 minutes after the PRP treatment. More severe injuries may require additional injections over several weeks or even several months. Generally, patients report that the majority of pain caused by their injuries subside within 3 months after completion of the PRP treatment.