What Patients Should Know About PRP Stem Cell Therapy

Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) is a form of stem cell therapy that employs a person's cell. The goal of PRP stem cell therapy is to promote regeneration in the parts of a person's musculoskeletal that have suffered significant soft-tissue damage.

If you're a prospective patient, you should know the following four things about the PRP injection process. 

Extraction

A practitioner will take blood samples from the patient. The blood will be the source of the stem cells and platelets that are central to the treatment. Many people will require multiple PRP stem cell therapy sessions so they will also likely need to provide several samples to produce sufficient platelets and stem cells for repeated rounds.

PRP Injections

PRP stem cell therapy is normally an outpatient treatment. The administration involves injections around the affected areas. Thanks to the use of cells from the patient's body, there is zero risk of the body rejecting the injected materials. Each injection includes a rich mixture of regenerative cells, and the goal is to hit problem areas with more of these beneficial cells than the body can normally pump into these locations.

Treatable Conditions

The common practice of PRP stem cell therapy usually focuses on musculoskeletal conditions and chronic pain. For example, people who are suffering the effects of degenerative arthritis are frequent candidates for PRP therapies. The hope is that the regenerative cells will encourage repairs and healing in the places where the joints have started to fail.

Doctors may also recommend PRP injections to treat ligament and tendon damage. Usually, practitioners encourage PRP solutions only after other non-invasive options have failed. For example, a doctor may find that a patient's body is non-responsive to physical therapy and steroids. If PRP doesn't do the job, the remaining alternatives are mostly surgical. Consequently, PRP tends to be an exercisable treatment option between the end of non-invasive solutions and far more invasive things than injections.

Recovery

Unsurprisingly, a doctor will discourage vigorous activity in the days after the PRP injections. However, most people with treatable conditions aren't going to be powerlifting or running marathons right after treatments.

The recovery timeframe is hard to pin down. Some folks may experience noticeable benefits after one injection, but you shouldn't expect this. It is normal for patients to undergo multiple injections. After the completion of a round of treatments, your doctor will need to reassess the situation. They may perform a physical exam and scans to determine how far your condition has improved.