PRP for Sports Injuries: How Platelet-Rich Plasma Heals Tennis and Golfer’s Elbow Faster

The time you spend engaged in your favorite activity is time well spent and benefits both your mental and physical health. This certainly holds true for tennis and pickleball players and golf enthusiasts — what better ways are there to get outside and exercise with friends?

As any athlete knows, the downside to these activities are sports injuries, especially those that are common enough that they’re named after the activity. Golfer’s elbow and tennis elbow are two that come to mind.

As sports injury specialists, Dr. Maziar Massrour and Dr. Naveen Reddy understand the challenges (and incredible benefits) of leading an active life, which is why we offer longer-term solutions for conditions like golfers and tennis elbow. At Apex Pain Specialists, we not only manage pain, we also emphasize regenerative solutions that can keep you active for years to come, and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is a great example of this.

When your elbow is in pain

As their names suggest, golfer’s elbow and tennis elbow both involve the elbow, but different tissues in the elbow. 

The more common of the two is tennis elbow, which is called lateral epicondylitis and describes wear and tear in the connective tissues that join your forearm muscles to the outside of your elbow. If you overstress these tissues, they can develop tiny tears that lead to pain and inflammation.

Tennis elbow is by no means confined to tennis players as up to 9 out of 10 cases of tennis elbow develop in people who don’t play tennis.

Golfer’s elbow is medically known as medial epicondylitis, and it’s the second most common golf injury behind low back pain. Golfer’s elbow affects the connective tissues that attach your forearm muscles to the inside of your elbow. Like tennis elbow, golfer's elbow is an overuse injury that develops over time and with repeated movements.

PRP therapy for overuse injuries

If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the many years that we’ve treated active patients is that they don't like to be sidelined by injury.

The reality is that overuse injuries like tennis and golfer’s elbow develop over time, which means it can take time for them to heal. Given how important being active is to our patients, and to you if you're reading this, we’re pleased to offer a treatment that can speed up healing in the form of PRP therapy.

The platelets in your blood play a very important role when it comes to your body’s healing capabilities. For starters, platelets are first responders and set the stage for healing by releasing two key agents that kick off the regenerative process in your body, including:

1. Growth factors

Growth factors are signaling proteins that encourage cell proliferation. So, it’s growth factors that call on stem cells in your body to come in and differentiate and multiply to repair damaged tissues.

2. Cytokines

Your platelets also signal for cytokines, which are proteins that work with your immune system to control inflammation.

With PRP therapy, we harvest platelets from your blood, create a concentrate, and then inject this concentrate into your elbow. In effect, we’re simply redirecting and amplifying regenerative resources in your body to accomplish several objectives:

• Faster tissue remodeling
• Stronger tissue remodeling
• Less pain and inflammation

When you’re dealing with golfer’s or tennis elbow, each of these objectives is great for getting you back into the game.

So, if you’re dealing with a nagging sports injury like tennis or golfer’s elbow, come explore how PRP therapy can help. To get that ball rolling, you can call our office in Chandler, Arizona, at 480-820-7246 to schedule a consultation. You can also book an appointment online today.