Chronic pain can seriously effect quality of life. Health economists report that chronic pain costs billions of pounds each year in medical treatment and lost work productivity, even more than cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Painkillers have been the only relief medication in modern history. That’s changing with Platelet-Rich Plasma. It has been emerging as one of the key players in pain management.
In any life that’s exclusively ruled by pain, Platelet-Rich Plasma has the power to bring back pleasure and normalcy and below we will describe a few reasons how.
Platelet-Rich Plasma injections are completely safe and natural. The PRP is prepared by centrifuging the patient’s blood. First the injections are used to break up the tissues and second, the growth factors in the PRP helps rebuild the entire tissue. This produces a healing effect and reduces pain.
Here are five common types of pain that can be healed with Platelet-Rich Plasma.
1. Arthritis pain
It’s been well-proven that a few shots of Platelet-Rich Plasma can produce a huge benefits for arthritis suffers;
- Reducing inflammation
- Slowing progressive degenerative changes
- Stimulate cartilage formation
- Kickstart the production of lubricating fluid
As a long term effect, Platelet-Rich Plasma injections tend to preserve the joints in more than 70% of the cases – as reported by a landmark study in 2013. It is reported that a two or three injection treatment over a period of 4-6 weeks with Platelet-Rich Plasma does more benefit that similar injection treatments with either Corticosteroids or Hyaluronic Acid. Moreover, the cartilage degeneration was significantly slowed even for patients in advanced stages of Osteoarthritis.
2. Neurological pain
The latest of those new discoveries is in the field of nerve regeneration and the resulting neuropathic pain. Nerve fibers consisting of neurons are very delicate structures and not much has been discovered about its operating mechanism. But recently, platelet rich plasma have been shown to promote the restoration of nerve fibers.
In a study performed at Hasanuddin University in Indonesia, Platelet-Rich Plasma was successful in nerve regeneration for patients with leprosy peripheral neuropathy. This means PRP injections are effective in restoring sensations when it has been lost.
3. Chronic back pain
Ongoing studies are taking place for the treatment of disc trauma within the spine, with good results thus far which is very promising.
4. Joint Pain
In addition to back and knees, almost all other joints are being treated by Platelet-Rich Plasma now. PRP is now being prescribed for any case of chronic bursitis – in areas like fingers, elbow, toes, hip, shoulders, neck, wrist, ankle, and hip – and the results are almost always positive.
In fact, Platelet-Rich Plasma can be – and must be – prescribed for more than 50% of the musculoskeletal issues that are usually treated with surgery or steroid injections.
5. Post surgical pain
Surgical pain relief is one of the newer areas where Platelet-Rich Plasma is gaining ground. This is primarily to take advantage of the wound-healing and bone regeneration aspects of PRP, but pain-relief is a very evident beneficial side-effect. Some medical perfusionists advice Platelet-Rich Plasma after almost all surgeries including Neurosurgery, Tumor removal surgery, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Head and Neck Surgeries, Reconstructions and Cosmetic Surgery, Orthopedic/Spinal Surgery, Hand and Foot Surgery, Bone Graft Surgery, Cardiothoracic Surgery and Bariatric Surgery.
By cutting short the time it takes to heal from the wounds of surgery, Platelet-Rich Plasma plays a pivotal role in assisting patients get productive as early as possible. And when done in conjunction with surgery, Platelet-Rich Plasma injections are almost always paid for by the insurance provider covering the surgery.