Move over cortisone: Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) injections lead us into the future with superior outcomes and long-term results.

If you’ve never heard of it before, platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy has been taking the world by storm as research and evidence continues to stack up about its great effectiveness, superiority over alternatives such as cortisone, and most importantly, the benefits to your rehabilitation in the long term that we’ve never seen achieved with an injection therapy previously.

Simply put: PRP gets your specific soft tissue and tendon injuries better much faster, decreases your pain and produces great long-term results to keep you active and doing the things you love.

What is Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) therapy?

PRP therapy takes the bodies own biological plasma components derived from the blood that are essential in the healing process, creates a rich concentration of these components and injects it back into the damaged/degenerative tissue. This stimulates and accelerates the healing process and relieves pain.

Before PRP therapy became available, cortisone (corticosteroid injection) was heavily relied upon to help relieve pain from soft tissue injuries. While it may be a potent anti-inflammatory medication, cortisone has faced much criticism including:

-only producing temporary relief

-risk of potential harmful side effects

-inhibits the healing/reparative process

-increases the chance of re-injury due to inhibiting the tissue repair process

This means that while cortisone has been used as a quick-fix pain relief, like a bandaid, it does nothing to help the damaged structures repair and can even work against it by inhibiting the bodies natural ability to repair and regenerate in the injected area.

This is where PRP comes in. PRP is clinically proven to:

-reduce pain over the long term

-heal the damaged area by spurring cell growth and regeneration

-have very rare side effects due to using primarily the bodies natural resources

Studies have examined the favourable effect of PRP in various conditions including plantar fasciitis, patellar tendinopathy, epicondylitis, knee osteoarthritis and more with the same conclusion: it has a great capacity for enhancing tissue regeneration, it’s superior to cortisone and you should seriously consider doing it.

PhysioConnect is proud to be one of the only clinics in the North Island to offer PRP therapy as part of our mission to provide our patients with the best in leading and innovative treatments and technologies.

Our podiatrists are experts in lower limb ailments and have had international training in PRP therapy. Pain isn’t a normal part of life, you shouldn’t have to put up with it, and your treatments shouldn’t have nasty side effects that may hinder your long-term performance!

For more information of how PRP therapy can get you feeling better faster than ever, give our talented team a call on 0800 111 788 - we’d love to help you too!

References

Homayouni, K., Karimian, H., Golkar, H., & Jalalati, N. (2016). Treatment of Chronic Plantar Fasciitis with Ultrasound-Guided Injection of Platelets Rich Plasma. Jornal of Archives in Military Medicine. doi: 10.5812/jamm.42332

Kaux, J., & Crielaard, J. (2013). Platelet-rich plasma application in the management of chronic tendinopathies. Acta Orthopaedica Belgica, 79, 10-15.

Montanez-Heredia, E., Irizar, S., Huertas, P., Otero, E., del Valle, M., Prat, I., Diaz-Gallardi, M., Meran, M., Marchal, J., & Hernandez-Lamas, M. (2016). Intra-Articular Injections of Platelet-Rich Plasma versus Hyaluronic Acid in the Treatment of Osteoarthritic Knee Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial in the Context of the Spanish National Health Care System. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 17, 1064. doi:10.3390/ijms17071064

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