Your joints are some of the most complicated structures in your body. Big or small, each joint is made up of tendons, ligaments, muscles, bones, and other components that create powerful, reliable mechanisms.
Unfortunately, their complexity is also their greatest stumbling block, and your joints are the most vulnerable to injury, disease, and damage.
Because joint pain is often a matter of when, not if, Dr. David Wu and our team at CurePain want you to know all your treatment options, especially those that take a more natural approach.
Here’s everything you should know about platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections for joint pain.
PRP injections are a type of regenerative medicine that taps into the powerful healing properties of your blood to encourage tissue repair, inflammation reduction, and pain relief.
To create PRP, we take a small sample of your blood (about as much as a routine blood test) and process it in a centrifuge, separating the platelets from the rest of your blood. Then, we inject the PRP back into your affected joint(s).
If you place your blood under a microscope, you’ll be amazed to see just how many components there are. Each component of your blood plays a specific role. The platelets in your blood are essential for healing. They release growth factors that initiate tissue repair and attract other healing factors to support the recovery process.
Platelets are always coursing through your veins, ready to respond to an injury. However, in chronic joint pain, where your natural healing process has stalled or become overwhelmed, we reintroduce a concentrated solution of platelets to reboot the process.
Traditional treatments for joint pain range from over-the-counter pain medications to invasive surgeries; however, many of our patients are looking for a more natural and less invasive approach.
That’s when we recommend PRP injections.
PRP injections are one of the most natural ways to address joint pain (and other pain conditions) because they’re derived from your biological materials. This significantly reduces the risk of adverse reactions and side effects accompanying many other treatments.
Here are some of the other benefits of PRP injections.
PRP injections don’t require us to poke and prod around your joint. All we need is a simple blood draw and an injection — no cuts, stitches, or prolonged recovery periods necessary.
Not only are PRP injections minimally invasive, but they also may help you avoid surgery in the future. For many, PRP provides enough relief and healing that surgery is no longer necessary.
Many of our patients experience fast, long-lasting relief after PRP injections. But don’t just take our word for it. A recent study shows that PRP injections improve symptoms of knee osteoarthritis.
Because of its all-natural, minimally invasive nature, PRP injections are typically an option for everyone. We can recommend PRP injections for many different causes of joint pain, as well, including:
PRP injections are also an option if you’ve tried other treatments and failed to see results.
Immediately following your injection, you may notice some swelling and pain at the injection site — this is a perfectly normal response as the growth factors get to work.
You should notice an improvement in your symptoms and mobility within a few weeks, with results improving over several months.
Joint pain can be debilitating, but it never has to be. If you want to know more about PRP injections for joint pain and see if you’re a candidate, don’t hesitate to call our friendly staff or use our online booking tool to schedule a consultation at our Torrance, California, office today.
