7 Sports-Related Injuries That Heal Faster with PRP Therapy

If there’s one universal truth about athletes, it's that they hate being sidelined by injury. Unfortunately, athletes of all types — from weekend warriors to professionals —  are more prone to injury because they’re pushing their bodies far more than the couch potato.

Given this reality, the experienced musculoskeletal team at Apex Pain Specialists, which includes Dr. Naveen Reddy and Dr. Maziar Massrour, is pleased to offer regenerative medicine and sports medicine services that rely on platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy.

How PRP supports healing

Let’s first discuss some of the science behind PRP to set the stage for why this is a go-to treatment for athletes and sports enthusiasts across the country

Under normal circumstances, the platelets in your blood are essential to your healing process as they kick off a healing cascade that involves four stages:

1. Stasis: stopping the bleeding
2. Inflammatory: setting up the healing environment
3. Cell proliferation: rebuilding damaged tissues with new cells
4. Remodeling: final tissues are created

When your platelets get to the site of the damage in your body, they not only clot your blood, they also release growth factors and cytokines that call on stem cells and other invaluable healing resources.

With PRP therapy, we harness the power of your platelets by drawing some of your blood and separating the platelets out to form a concentrate. We then inject this platelet concentrate into your damaged tissues so they can accelerate and support healing.

Common sports injuries that respond well to PRP therapy

The medical world is only scratching the surface of the potential of regenerative therapies, but we’ve already found a good deal of success with PRP therapy, especially for some of the more common sports injuries, such as:

1. Rotator cuff tears

One of the most common sports injuries occurs in the shoulder in the form of a rotator cuff tear — about 2 million Americans seek help for rotator cuff tears each year.

Your rotator cuff is a soft tissue that is composed of four muscles that come together to form a  tendon that attaches your arm to your shoulder.

If you have a tear in this tissue, a great way to promote healing is through PRP therapy.

2. Achilles tendonitis

Your Achilles tendon is the largest tendon in your body and connects your heel bone to your calf muscle. With Achilles tendonitis, which affects about 24% of athletes at some point, the soft tissue develops tiny tears and inflammation on the heels of overuse.

A great way to combat the pain and inflammation and repair the tissue is through PRP therapy.

3. Plantar fasciitis

If you’re a runner, plantar fasciitis is likely on your radar screen. Your plantar fascia is a tough band of tissue that runs from your heels to the bases of your toes. If you overstress this tissue, it can lead to pain and inflammation, which are the hallmarks of plantar fasciitis.

Alongside rest and stretching, a great solution for plantar fasciitis is PRP therapy.

4. Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears

Athletes who rely on their knees dread the ACL tear, which is a ligament that crosses the knee and provides stability. In many cases, ACL tears require surgery, but PRP therapy can also play a role in accelerating healing after surgical repair.

5. Sprained ankle

It’s hard to get through life without at least one twisting and spraining of the ankle, especially if you’re active. Most minor sprains heal on their own, but if you have a severe sprain or chronic ankle instability, PRP therapy can play a role in helping you move forward.

6. Post-traumatic arthritis

Every time you injure a joint, you run the risk of developing premature osteoarthritis in that joint, which is a condition called post-traumatic arthritis.

Since cartilage doesn't heal readily on its own, we can introduce outside healing resources through PRP therapy.

7. Golfer’s elbow

When an injury is named after a sport, you know it’s common, which is true of golfer’s elbow, an overuse injury that affects the medial epicondylitis (the tendon on the palm side of your forearm).

Through PRP therapy, our goal is to help these tissues heal more quickly so that you can get back out on the links sooner.

As you can see, PRP is answering a lot of calls for athletes and this list is far from complete. If you’re nursing a sports injury and you’d like to give it a healing boost, come and explore whether PRP therapy is right for you.

To get started, we invite you to call our office in Chandler, Arizona, at 480-820-7246 or book an appointment online today.