PRP For Weekend Warriors with Aging Joints
by Dr. Ed Childers, D.O.
Do you overextend your body on the weekend and wake up on Monday morning with stiff, painful arthritic joints and inflamed tendons and think, “maybe I shouldn’t be having so much fun? Perhaps I’m getting to old for this?” Or, you’re finding that routine household chores are now painful? Or worse yet, you’re in so much pain that you’ve considered seeing a surgeon to relieve your pain with a steroid injection or even a new joint? If you fit any of those descriptions, read on.
Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) injections could be the therapy for you. It provides pain relief and improved function without undergoing the knife, painful rehab or enduring the side effects of steroids. PRP uses your own blood to provide platelets to the area of your body that is either injured or deteriorated. Injecting platelets into injured tissue stimulates your Stem Cells to migrate to the injury and regenerate the tissue.
My first experience with the PRP therapy was very personal. I suffered an extensive tear of my rotator cuff (right shoulder), while playing golf. It had been weakened over time by multiple steroid injections. I visited an orthopedic surgeon who highly recommended surgery (which would have left me unable to work for at least 3 months). Luckily, I had some knowledge of PRP injections and was able to find a trusted colleague who was doing them with great success. With just 2 injections, I was able to continue my work without the risk of surgery, painful rehabilitation or pharmaceutical side effects.
After having such an amazing recovery, I felt the need to provide this therapy to my patients and, have since done almost 200 injections with a very high success rate, at a very reasonable price.