Everything You Need to Know About PRP Therapy

Regenerative medicine is a branch of medicine that aims to heal tissues and restore functionality to your musculoskeletal system that has been affected by injury, aging, damage, or disease. 

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy 一 an example of regenerative medicine 一 is quickly becoming a household name. PRP therapy has made headlines for its role in aesthetics and sports injury treatment, and here at LeHeal Biogenix in Tampa, Florida, we offer PRP therapy as part of our comprehensive regenerative medicine treatment plans.

And while you may have heard of PRP therapy, there’s still a lot to learn about this revolutionary treatment. Below, our team of providers share everything you need to know about PRP therapy. 

The anatomy of your blood

Before we explore what PRP is, let’s first take a quick look at the components in your blood and the role of platelets. Your blood is made of:

• Red blood cells: a type of blood cell that carries oxygen throughout your body
• White blood cells: a type of blood cell that supports healthy immune function 
• Plasma: the liquid part of your blood that makes up 55% of your total blood volume (enabling blood cells, nutrients, proteins, and platelets to flow throughout your blood vessels)
• Platelets (thrombocytes): small cells that contain growth factors and proteins

As the name suggests, PRP is a plasma-based serum with high concentrations of platelets 一 and that’s key to the success of PRP therapy. 

Creating your PRP serum

Because PRP therapy relies heavily on the platelets, we must first prepare your PRP serum by placing a blood sample into a centrifuge. To do this, our team at LeHeal Biogenix takes a small sample of your own blood. After we collect the blood sample during a simple blood draw, it’s placed into a centrifuge. A centrifuge is a special piece of equipment that spins quickly to separate your blood into its various components, which allows us to accumulate the platelets.

Once prepared, the PRP serum is injected into areas that require healing. As a bonus, PRP therapy is well-tolerated since it’s made from your own blood. There’s no synthetic ingredients or medications infused into the serum.

Understanding how PRP injections work

Now that we’ve covered what PRP is and how it’s created, let’s examine how these injections work. Once your PRP serum is prepared, we administer it to the affected site, whether that’s a muscle tear or arthritic joint.

After administering the injection, platelets — rich in both healing and growth factors — are delivered to stimulate your body to grow new, healthy cells. Platelets help your body heal because they contain secretory proteins. These proteins play a big role in wound healing processes because they help form clots to stop and/or prevent bleeding. They also advance the healing process of injured joints, ligaments, tendons, and muscles. 

According to research published in Clinical Medical Insights: Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Disorder, PRP is an effective treatment for osteoarthritis 一 even more so than hyaluronic acid injections. 

Another benefit of PRP treatments is that they fit easily into a comprehensive and multimodal treatment plan because they complement other treatments, including physical therapy or CBD remedies.

What conditions does PRP help?

Although PRP injections are used in everything from facials to hair restoration, they shine when it comes to healing injuries and damaged tissue. Here at LeHeal Biogenix, we offer PRP therapy to help with:

• Joint pain
• Musculoskeletal injuries, including golfer’s elbow or jumper’s knee
• Post-surgical healing
• Osteoarthritis
• Sports injuries 

To learn more about PRP therapy and how it can help you improve your range of motion, reduce pain, and restore functionality, give our Tampa, Florida office a call at 813-999-2192. You can also quickly book an appointment online with our easy-to-use scheduling tool.