PRP Therapy Fullerton

Fullerton Sports Medicine: PRP

Because of its effectiveness, PRP treatments have been popular with elite athletes to help them return to peak performance more quickly. When you consider how much money is associated with the performance of professional athletes, it is a testament to the exceptional results of this regenerative treatment.

PRP therapy is part of a growing branch of medicine focused on leveraging the healing power of the human body to trigger repair, growth and protection of damaged areas. This branch of regenerative medicine is rapidly advancing and offers non-invasive solutions that may prove to be more effective than structural surgery and result in greater functionality, strength, and protection to the injured area. At Full Range Spine & Ortho in Fullerton we have some of the most experienced doctors providing PRP therapy.

What is PRP and How is it Obtained?

Your blood is composed of 45% red blood cells that carry oxygen from the lungs to the rest of your body, 55% plasma, a nutrient-rich liquid, 1% white blood cells that fight infection and tiny fragments of cells called platelets. Although they comprise a tiny percentage of your blood, they are so rich in biologic factors essential to your body’s healing response that they are vital for keeping your blood and cells functioning as it should.

What is Plasma?

Your blood is composed of red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and plasma. Red blood cells carry oxygen from the lungs to the rest of your body. White blood cells fight infection. Plasma is a solution of water, proteins, glucose, nutrients and antibodies, and it is the liquid portion of the blood in which red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets are suspended.

PRP is separated from a small blood sample taken at Full Range Ortho by means of a centrifuge. The resulting platelet rich plasma contains essential growth factors for cell regeneration, multiplication and specialization that are required for healing.

How Does PRP Work?

Platelets can play several roles in the body. They not only promote blood clotting and inflammation reduction but deliver healing proteins to restore damaged areas. Although definitive research has not been concluded on all that PRP therapy is capable of, PRP is such a powerful healing agent on its own, doctors have gotten excellent results in shortening the healing time of injuries to the joints, tendons, muscles and other areas of the body. All of this is why Full Range Ortho is one of the top destinations for PRP therapy in the Fullerton area.

The Process

Once PRP has been extracted from your blood, it is injected the damaged area. The quantity of platelets concentrated in PRP is between 5 to 10 times more than untreated blood. Cells in the damaged body part send out “signals” that attract platelets to the area to trigger the healing process by reducing inflammation and helping repair soft tissue and bone. Many of the proteins in PRP are known to promote natural regeneration to the damaged area.

Fullerton patients who experience relief after PRP treatment report long-term improvement. PRP treatments can be especially helpful when other treatments and therapies have not been successful.

What Spine & Orthopedic Issues Can PRP Therapy Help Treat?

Because PRP can organize itself dynamically to address a wide range of cell injuries, there is a growing list of conditions to which this treatment can be applied, including but not limited to:

• Spinal disc pain (lumbar).
• Shoulder and rotator cuff injuries and instabilities.
• Overused or misused athletic joints such as tennis and golfers elbow, pitcher’s arm joints.
• Tendon and muscular strains of the hamstring and hip.
• Knee instability and related tears and sprains including patellar (kneecap) tendonitis.
• Achilles tendonitis and plantar fasciitis.
• Osteoarthritis of joints such as knee, hip and other joints.
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and other “nerve entrapment syndromes.”
• Sacroiliac joint dysfunction.

Are PRP Injections Performance Enhancing?

Platelet Rich Plasma is a rich source of growth and repair and does contain a performance enhancing substance known as endogenous growth factors. For this reason, the World Anti-Doping Agency as well as its United States counterpart do not allow PRP within muscles because of the potential of the substance being capable of enhancing physical performance. It should be noted that no tests or studies have found this to be the case and to date, professional sports agencies have not made rules addressing the use of PRP.

What is the PRP Procedure like?

• Your first consultation and examination will determine the extent of your joint injury and you and our Fullerton PRP therapy specialist will discuss treatment and what can be done to restore strength, mobility, and range of motion.
• A small amount of blood will be drawn and separated in a centrifuge from which the PRP portion is extracted.
• The area to be injected is anesthetized with local anesthetic, or with an ultrasound guided nerve bock for more complex, deeper injuries.
• PRP is injected directly into the painful and inflamed joint to accelerate the healing process.
• If there is significant amount of scar tissue in the injury, it may be loosened with the needle to help increase blood supply.
• PRP therapy has been shown through use to be safe for most patients.
• Most procedures take less than an hour and a half, of which only about 30 minutes is the procedure itself.
• Regenerated healthy tissue may take weeks to produce, so this therapy is not an instant cure. Most patients can return to work the next day. The final healing process could require several weeks, depending upon the kind and degree of injury. However, a successful PRP procedure will not require the recovery time associated with surgery. Chronic tendon injuries generally take the longest to heal.

PRP: Ongoing Research

While PRP is still undergoing clinical studies for its range of effectiveness, there are recent studies that point to its efficacy particularly in osteoarthritis knee pain. At Full Range Spine & Ortho in Fullerton, CA, we carefully evaluate your condition to determine the best treatment and therapy for your condition.

Joint PRP Therapy

When treating painful, inflamed joints with PRP the injections are made directly into the joint to augment or accelerate the healing process.

Intradiscal PRP

For discogenic back pain, pain originating from damaged vertebral discs, PRP has shown promising results in some patients.