For people experiencing arthritis pain, even everyday simple tasks like driving, walking, climbing stairs – become increasingly difficult. In milder cases, exercise, weight management, and good conservative osteopathic management can provide relief.
In the more high end advanced cases, especially when the affected joints are the hips or knees, total joint replacement surgery may offer the best outcomes. Surgery is not always the ideal solution, though, as it puts patients at risk and requires a recovery period that can be long and painful. If you suffer from debilitating arthritis in the hip or knee joints and have been contemplating surgery, there’s an alternative you should consider before going that route: Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy. What is PRP Therapy?
Platelets very important components of blood. When tissue is damaged, it triggers a reaction that causes platelets to bind together and create a clot at the site of tissue damage.
PRP therapy can use the power of arthritis patients’ own healing properties to promote healing of the damaged tissue. The procedure is quick and safe. The process takes about 40 minutes. Following the injection the patient is prescribed a rehabilitation program to follow for a 6 week period after. In about 4/6 weeks, the patient returns for an evaluation. In some cases the doctor will decide that a second injection is necessary. In successful cases, within 3 months of the injection patients are able to comfortably resume activities that arthritis had previously made too painful. If you are suffering with arthritis in the hip, knee, or shoulder that is increasingly painful that you or your doctor have contemplated joint-replacement surgery, PRP is definitely worth discussing.
PRP Treatment has also shown to be effective in treating tendonitis, lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow), and patellar tendonitis (jumper’s knee). PRP is a far more conservative approach that could save you from the pain, anxiety, and difficult recovery time of surgery. Here at Dynamic Osteopaths we can provide a free basic assessment to see if you are a suitable candidate for PRP therapy.
We are committed to helping arthritis sufferers find relief in the most minimally invasive way for their unique cases.