Doctors use platelet-rich plasma (PRP) to treat everything from sports injuries to sexual dysfunction to hair loss. The reason this regenerative therapy has such widespread application is because it’s made from the healing components of your own blood.
Your body uses the concentrated platelets in PRP to prompt or accelerate the rebuilding of injured or aged tissues.
If you’re in pain due to acute or chronic inflammation, our expert rheumatologists at the Rheumatology Center of New Jersey offer both immediate relief through medications and long-term relief through PRP therapy.
Here’s what you need to know about PRP and inflammation.
If you tear a tendon or suffer any other kind of injury or trauma, your body does its best to repair the damage. Your body rushes blood to the site of the injury to help wash away toxins and bacteria.
Inflammation occurs because your small blood vessels enlarge to allow more plasma proteins and white blood cells to access the damaged area. You need the proteins in the plasma (liquid portion of your blood) to rebuild tissues. You need the white blood cells to kill any pathogens.
Although inflammation is a sign that your body is repairing itself, that doesn’t mean it’s painless. In addition to the initial injury, the swollen tissues can be tender and hot to the touch.
If you suffer the pain of chronic inflammation, your body attempts to repair something that wasn’t broken in the first place, or it continues to stay on the attack after killing invasive pathogens.
If you have an autoimmune disorder, for instance, your body attacks healthy tissue as if it were a pathogen.
The same cascade occurs in chronic inflammation as in acute inflammation: Blood vessels enlarge and fluid collects in the tissues. But acute inflammation resolves within days to weeks as your body heals itself; chronic inflammation persists.
If your body is in a state of chronic inflammation, you’re basically in a chronic high-alert state. Chronic inflammation increases your risk for serious diseases, including certain cancers.
Whether you’re in pain because of an acute injury, such as a torn meniscus, or a chronic condition, such as rheumatoid arthritis, PRP can help. The PRP serum contains 5-10 times more platelets than normal blood.
Platelets are cell fragments that are filled with growth factors. Growth factors produce fibroblasts and endothelial cells, which your body uses to subdue inflammation and promote healing.
The growth factors also build new blood cells to help flush away toxins and dead cells and to provide nourishment to new tissues.
Your body takes days to months to rebuild injured or inflamed tissue on its own. With PRP, you speed up that process to relieve pain more quickly.
Still, you may not feel the first effects of your PRP treatment until a couple of weeks after we administer the serum to your injury or area of inflammation.
Depending on the extent of inflammation and whether you suffer from acute or chronic pain, you may need a series of treatments.
When you come for a consultation at the Rheumatology Center of New Jersey, we discuss how many treatments you may need, and when you should expect relief.
Cut down or cut out your reliance on pain medication by helping your body heal itself. Call our nearest location or request an appointment using our online tool. We offer PRP at our offices in Somerville, Flemington, and Monroe, New Jersey. Telemedicine is also available.
