Do you ever wonder how some professional athletes continue to practice intensely, day in and day out through their 40s? They have a healing secret, and now this secret is available to you— right here in Orange County. If you have a muscle, joint, or soft-tissue injury, and you want to feel better quickly like the pros, make your way into South OC Physical Medicine and Chiropractic for a Platlet Rich Plasma (PRP) treatment.

What is PRP?
Platelet Rich Plasma therapy allows the body to use its natural healing power to regenerate quickly while only using your body’s natural cells taken from your plasma. This treatment is used by professional athletes because it contributes to quicker healing, greater strength, and more mobility. Platelets are the rebuilders and repairers of wounds, joints, and soft tissue injuries. PRP activates this healing process by injecting the patient’s own blood, with a platelet concentration high above baseline, directly into the injury.

Often, doctors recommend steroid injections to manage the pain of an injury. Unlike PRP, these steroids can be toxic to the body only providing a temporary bandaid, and they do not directly help the body heal itself. As a safe, effective alternative to steroids, PRP stimulates the body’s natural healing powers.

Do Young Athletes use PRP?
Yes, In fact it is now allowed by the NCAA and other sports leagues because these governing bodies recognize that PRP does not enhance performance as steroids do; rather it quickly restores performance to baseline by healing injuries. PRP is a safe, natural, and non-toxic alternative to steroids.

What’s the history of PRP?
PRP became commonly used in plastic surgery in the 1990s. About 20 years later, professional athletes began benefitting from PRP. Until recently, it has not been widely available to non-athletes or people who have not undergone surgery. South OC Physical Medicine is offering this cutting edge treatment to patients who would like to heal injuries faster.

Who will benefit from PRP?
You do not have to be an athlete or weekend warrior to benefit from PRP. Anyone can strain a muscle or sprain a ligament during routine daily activities. Muscle strains and ligament sprains can be so severe that they interfere with work and home life. In fact, PRP is known to cure hard-to-treat low-back pain.

The pain associated with cartilage and muscular injury is just the beginning; if strain or sprains do not heal properly, it can lead to long-term damage, loss of function, http://premier-pharmacy.com/product/levitra/ immobility, and disability. Without proper care, the damaged cartilage or muscle fibers may not reform in the correct pattern. PRP focuses your body’s natural healing power on the injury to ensure optimal healing.

PRP’s healing benefits are not limited to muscles; joint and soft-tissue injuries can be just as painful and limiting. If you tweaked your knee while exercising or have severe bruising after a car accident, PRP can help you too!

Here at South OC Physical Medicine, we believe that if the medical technology is available to prevent long-term pain and suffering, then it should be available to everyone. It is our mission to make cutting-edge medical treatments widely available so that more people in Southern California are able to lead extraordinary, fulfilled lives.

How does it work?
A trained PRP specialist will be sure to answer any and all questions before the injections. Then, the healthcare professional will draw a small amount of your blood and put the blood into a centrifuge to separate the platelet-rich plasma from the other red blood cells. The specialist may use ultrasound imaging to pinpoint the exact spot of injury. This highly concentrated Platelet Rich Plasma will then be directly injected into the area of injury to facilitate accelerated healing. The entire procedure takes about an hour.

Based on your specific condition, you may choose a single injection or a series of injections spaced over the course of several weeks or months.

Is PRP effective?
Many professional athletes use PRP to speed the healing of injuries, and soon after treatment, are able to return to play. Many probably remember Kobe Bryant tearing his ACL during a game. After his surgery he used PRP to help with the healing and was back in several weeks rather than months due to the accelerated healing from PRP. Studies show that it is an effective healing method for many conditions. It can even successfully treat hair loss!

What are the risks?
Because the patient’s own blood is used it the procedure, there are few risks associated with PRP. In fact, it is one of the safest healing methods available today!

Is PRP right for me?
If you have any kind of acute or chronic injury, PRP may be right for you! PRP is a safe way to speed healing so that you can return to normal activities as soon as possible. Don’t let injuries take control of your life. Take control of your healing with South OC Physical Medicine’s PRP injections.