One of the services that we offer here at the San Diego Orthopedic Surgery Center is platelet rich plasma, or PRP. These are injections which are essentially comprised of the patient’s own blood, spun and purified to deliver healing platelet cells at the site of an injury.
The jury is still out on whether PRP works for everyone, and some of the mechanisms behind it remain poorly understood. But some patients experience dramatic healing and recovery with the injections, reporting a renewed mobility and comfort within a matter of weeks, even when other therapies failed to produce results for years. For instance:
Two days later, Dr. Jason Tucker treated both his knees on the same day. And two weeks later, the swelling around Zeledon’s knees was down, he walked steadily with braces, and felt no pain.
Stories such as these get added to the basket of anecdotal evidence suggesting that PRP seems to help people in many cases. And when PRP can’t do the job alone, it can be combined with supplemental measures such as the use of hydraluric acid (HLA) to keep the joints moving freely:
Whalen said he doesn’t advise using PRP alone for osteoarthritis, commonly known as “wear-and-tear arthritis.” But he said PRP could be used in conjunction with hyaluronic acid, a substance that occurs naturally in the body and helps lubricate the joint.
My orthopedic surgery practice offers the cutting edge in treatment modalities for knee pain, elbow pain, shoulder pain, and similar complaints. If you have pain and want to try the standard in orthopedic care, please reach out today.
