Struggling with Chronic Pain? PRP Could Be Just What You Need
If you have chronic pain, you’re probably willing to try just about anything to ease your suffering.
The unfortunate reality is that for chronic pain patients, it can be very difficult to get effective treatment, and as a result, many are so desperate to alleviate their pain that they will agree to pretty much anything, no matter how risky or invasive it might be.
Whether it’s surgery, prescription painkillers, or some other potentially dangerous option, when you’re at your wit’s end trying to deal with your pain, nothing is off the table.
Our founder, Dr. Dheshnie, knows all too well how difficult this can be, as she suffers from chronic pain herself and has struggled for years to get proper treatment.
But luckily, less-invasive therapies are becoming more widely available, and one of those treatment options involves what’s known as platelet-rich plasma (PRP).
This innovative treatment uses your own blood to harness the healing power of the body, and it can be used to treat chronic pain by hastening and enhancing the healing of injuries, or as an alternative or adjunct to surgery.
PRP is rapidly becoming one of the most popular treatments for chronic pain, and that’s because it offers such dramatic results for patients.
Dr. Dheshnie has helped countless chronic pain patients with PRP, from students to pro athletes, and she’s never seen someone who didn’t benefit from it.
So, if you suffer from chronic pain, or know someone who does, then you’re going to want to keep reading.
Because in this article, we’re going to explain what PRP is, how it works, and everything else you need to know to decide whether this treatment is right for you.
What is Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP)?
The term platelet-rich plasma refers to plasma that contains a high concentration of platelets and is derived by spinning blood in a centrifuge.
At this point, many of you are probably wondering what all these medical terms mean, so let’s back up for a minute.
Plasma is the liquid part of your blood.
When separated from the other constituents of blood, it comes in the form of a yellow or amber-coloured fluid.
But how do you separate the plasma from the other parts of the blood?
Well, first the blood is put into a test tube, which then goes into a machine called a centrifuge that uses centrifugal force to separate the various components of a fluid by spinning that fluid at speeds of up to 3,400 RPM.
What’s the point of all this?
Well, when you spin fluid at that speed in a test tube, it separates its constituents into layers based on density. The image above shows what the test tube looks like after it’s been spun.
The point of spinning the blood in the centrifuge is that it allows you to separate the plasma from the other parts of the blood, while isolating and concentrating the blood’s platelets within that plasma.
Platelets help to heal wounds by forming blood clots to slow or stop bleeding, and at high enough concentrations, they can be compared to base-level stem cells, which are cells that promote the repair of injured, diseased, or dysfunctional tissue, hence the healing power of PRP.
At the same time, spinning the blood in the centrifuge also helps to release what are known as growth factors, which are substances, such as hormones and proteins, which stimulate the growth of living cells and can therefore promote healing.
So, now that you’ve wrapped your head around all this medical jargon, and can understand what PRP is, let’s talk about how this treatment works.
How Does Platelet-Rich Plasma Treat Chronic Pain?
After the blood has been spun in the centrifuge, the platelet-rich plasma is sucked out of the test tube and can then be injected into various areas of the body where patients are experiencing pain.
As we said above, PRP can be used to hasten and enhance the healing of injuries, or as an alternative or adjunct to surgery, so it’s going to be most effective at treating chronic pain caused by an injury, surgery, or any other form of damaged or degenerated tissue.
It’s mainly used to treat joint pain caused by an injury or degenerative disease. It does this by rebuilding lost cartilage within the joint, which reduces the pain caused by bone rubbing on bone, which is what happens when the cartilage degenerates.
For example, if an athlete injures the cartilage in their knee, in the past this would have required surgery, which could take a long time to heal.
But by injecting PRP into the knee joint, you can promote the growth of the cartilage, and potentially eliminate the need for surgery.
And, on the other hand, if that athlete does choose to get surgery, the PRP can be injected into the knee joint afterward to improve and speed up healing.
Believe it or not, once the PRP has been obtained from the blood it’s actually a pretty simple procedure.
The platelet-rich plasma is simply placed into a very thin needle and then injected into the desired area, with the help of ultrasound guidance, if necessary.
So, now that you know how this treatment works, let’s review the conditions it can be used to treat, how long its results last, potential side effects, and other things to watch out for.
What Chronic Pain Conditions Can PRP Be Used to Treat?
PRP does have incredible healing properties, but unfortunately, it’s not some magic bullet that can treat any kind of chronic pain.
As we already mentioned, PRP is mainly used to treat joint pain, but it can also be used to treat pain caused by damaged tendons and ligaments, as well.
Basically, wherever degeneration or injury of tissue is causing pain, PRP has the potential to heal and promote the regeneration of those tissues and as a result, mitigate the pain they’re causing.
That being said, PRP can be used to treat a wide range of different injuries and other chronic pain-related afflictions, including:
- Tendinitis
- Tennis elbow
- Golfer’s elbow
- Osteoarthritis
- Plantar fasciitis
- Rotator cuff tears
- Carpal tunnel repairs
- Achilles tendon ruptures
- Tendon, muscle, and joint injuries
- Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) issues like trismus (lockjaw)
How Long Do the Results of PRP Last for Chronic Pain?
The results of PRP aren’t permanent, but typically this treatment is pretty low maintenance.
At any rate, studies have shown that patients tend to have the best outcomes with PRP when they get three or four monthly treatments and then additional treatment(s) between a year to two years later, but it all depends.
The duration of the results is contingent on many factors, including the patient’s platelet count, what kind of chronic pain they have, and how many treatments they choose to get.
Dr. Dheshnie has had patients require additional treatments after a year, a year and a half, or two years, and some who’ve gotten only one injection, reported significant results, and never needed another treatment.
In any case, it usually takes about three months to experience the full effects of the treatment, but this can vary, as well.
What Are the Potential Side Effects of PRP?
PRP is considered a low-risk procedure, not least because it involves the patient’s own blood, so allergic reactions and other side effects are pretty uncommon when compared to other kinds of injections.
If the treatment is being performed by a qualified injector, typically, the side effects will amount to nothing more than a few days of bruising and soreness at the injection site.
However, in very rare cases, serious side effects are possible, including things like:
- Bleeding
- Infections
- Nerve Injuries
- Tissue damage
Why Should Someone Avoid Using PRP for Chronic Pain?
Most healthy people are good candidates for PRP treatment, but if you have any of the medical conditions listed below, you may want to avoid this treatment.
- Infections
- Thrombocytopenia
- Hypofibrinogenemia
- Chronic liver disease
- Hemodynamic instability
Anyone who’s taking an anti-coagulation medication should avoid this treatment, as well.
And it’s also important to mention that while PRP is particularly good at treating osteoarthritis, it’s not a viable treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, as it can actually cause symptoms to flare up.
A Few More Things to Watch Out For
After you receive a PRP treatment, there are a couple of things you want to avoid.
You should avoid overexerting yourself for about a week after the procedure, and you should also refrain from taking any anti-inflammatories (ibuprofen, naproxen, Celebrex, Aspirin) for about six weeks after getting the treatment.
And if you’re thinking about getting a PRP treatment done, there’s something else you need to know, and it’s best summed up with an anecdote.
Not too long ago, a player from the B.C. Lions football team came to see Dr. Dheshnie for a PRP treatment, and she was shocked to see that he was absolutely terrified of the needle.
“You’re a big football player,” she said. “Why are you so scared of this?”
At this point, he told her that the last time he’d gotten a PRP injection, it was a horribly painful experience. He said the injector who treated him hadn’t properly separated his plasma, so he ended up getting injected with his own blood, which is excruciatingly painful.
Dr. Dheshnie explained that this treatment is not supposed to be painful at all, and clearly, the injector he saw last time had no idea what they were doing.
You see, some of the centrifuges that are available don’t do a good enough job of separating the plasma from the other parts of the blood, and some injectors aren’t even aware that this is an issue.
So, before you get any kind of PRP injection, make sure to have the injector show you the plasma they plan on injecting into you, and ensure that it’s pure yellow or amber in colour, with no red in it whatsoever.
Are you thinking about using platelet-rich plasma to treat your chronic pain? Contact us to book a free pain consultation, or schedule your treatment today.