More than 20% of adults in the United States suffer from chronic pain, which is persistent pain that lasts three or more months. This type of pain affects your physical, emotional, social, and financial well-being.
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy is becoming a popular treatment for people suffering from chronic pain. At Orthopedic & Wellness, our experienced pain management physicians — Dr. Ojedapo Ojeyemi and Dr. Matthew Roh — use PRP for musculoskeletal-related pain conditions like arthritis and tendonitis.
Here, we share five benefits of PRP therapy for chronic pain.
PRP is a blood product that contains a high concentration of platelets. We create PRP for your treatment from a sample of your own blood. Because we use your blood for PRP therapy, there’s a very low risk of side effects from treatment.
Corticosteroid injections are a common treatment for chronic knee pain and shoulder pain conditions. However, these injections may provide only temporary relief, and their long-term use may cause permanent tissue damage.
PRP therapy is an alternative pain management treatment that may ease pain without such complications.
Platelets are tiny blood cells that play a major role in the body’s repair process. With PRP therapy, we inject a high concentration of platelets into areas where there’s a delay in healing. The platelets in the PRP stimulate the healing process in the nonhealing tissue, increasing cellular activity and the generation of new cells and tissue.
Inflammation is part of your body’s repair process. The initial inflammation that occurs from an injury starts the body’s healing cascade (the steps that tissue repair and regeneration). Platelets have both pro- and anti-inflammatory mediators.
When we inject the PRP into the damaged part of your body, you can expect an initial increase in inflammation and swelling. However, you should experience improvements in inflammation over time as the damage heals.
By reducing inflammation and supporting the healing process, PRP naturally reduces pain. And by boosting healing at the source of your pain, you may have long-term relief from your discomfort.
We provide PRP therapy at the office. We start by taking a sample of blood to make your PRP solution and then preparing the site of your injection by cleaning the skin with an antiseptic agent and injecting a local anesthetic to minimize pain.
We then use image-guided technology when injecting your PRP to ensure accuracy. We have you remain in the treatment room awhile for observation. Afterward, we send you home and you can resume most of your normal activities.
Are you looking for a more natural solution to your chronic pain that may provide long-term results? You may want to consider PRP therapy.
Schedule a consultation with our pain management experts at our office in Frederick, Germantown, or Waldorf, Maryland, by calling or booking an appointment online today.
