Physical exercise can be rough on joints, whether you’re a professional athlete or a recreational jogger. An active lifestyle can sometimes result in natural wear and tear in the form of tendonitis, ACL or MCL tears, or an increased risk of osteoarthritis. Surgery, while a solution to these physical ailments, can still interfere with a person’s athletic lifestyle due to potentially long recovery times and the risk of infection or other complications, leaving injured athletes with less-than-favorable solutions to their ailments.
Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) therapy offers a safe, more affordable alternative to orthopedic surgery. With a shorter recovery time and minimal invasiveness, PRP therapy is now a viable option for injured athletes looking to get healthy and back on their feet as soon as possible.
Typically when the body suffers an injury, it sends a rush of blood to the site of the wound in order to start a natural healing process. However, blood has more limited access to particularly ligamentous regions like joints, making recovery for these areas much more difficult.
With PRP therapy, the procedure sends plasma-rich platelets to the joint injury to allow for rebuilding ligaments and expedited healing. The therapy entails the injection of the injured athlete’s centrifuged blood into the joint in question. The procedure takes less than an hour and leaves little to no room for infection or complication due to lack of incision and the use of the patient’s own blood.
PRP therapy offers a more comfortable, less invasive alternative to orthopedic surgery. The procedure is less expensive than typical surgery and shaves several weeks off a patient’s rehabilitation or recovery time. PRP therapy is a smart option for all individuals suffering from joint pain, be it from vigorous activity or osteoarthritis.