What Is PRP Therapy and How Does It Work? A Guide for Patients in the Pittsburgh Area

Key Takeaways

• Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy uses concentrated platelets from a patient's own blood to help stimulate the body's natural healing process.
• A centrifuge spins the blood sample to separate and concentrate the platelets before they are injected into the injured area.
• Research is most supportive of PRP for chronic tendon injuries like tennis elbow and for mild to moderate knee osteoarthritis (joint pain caused by wear and tear on cartilage). More study is needed for other uses.
• The treatment typically takes about an hour from blood draw to injection, with results building gradually over several weeks.
• Corticosteroid injections and surgery are two alternatives, and each works differently depending on the type and severity of the injury.
• Modern Edge Sports & Orthopedic Medicine offers PRP therapy for patients throughout Jeannette, PA, and the greater Pittsburgh area, and patients can request an appointment to find out if PRP is a good option for their injury.

Appointments

What Platelet-Rich Plasma Is and Where It Comes From

Blood is made up mostly of liquid plasma, along with red cells, white cells, and platelets. Platelets are best known for helping blood clot. They also carry hundreds of growth factors, which are proteins that play an important role in healing injured tissue.

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is plasma that has been processed to hold many more platelets than normal blood does. According to the Cleveland Clinic, a PRP injection typically has five to 10 times as many platelets as a normal blood sample. PRP comes from a patient's own blood, not from a donor or a manufactured product. For this reason, it is considered a low-risk option for many patients.

How the Centrifuge Process Concentrates Healing Growth Factors

Creating a PRP preparation involves a few careful steps:

1. A blood sample is drawn from the patient, similar to routine bloodwork.
2. The sample is placed into a centrifuge, a machine that spins at high speed to separate blood parts by weight.
3. The centrifuge isolates the concentrated platelets from the red cells, white cells, and remaining plasma.
4. The resulting platelet-rich plasma is prepared for injection into the injured area. Ultrasound guidance, an imaging tool that shows where the needle is, is sometimes used to help place the injection in the right spot.

Step-by-Step Walkthrough of a PRP Appointment at Modern Edge

A typical PRP visit at Modern Edge Sports & Orthopedic Medicine follows a similar pattern from start to finish. Dr. Michael Wong first checks the injury to confirm PRP is a good option. Then the blood draw, centrifuge processing, and injection all happen during the same visit.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, the full process for a joint or injury injection generally takes about an hour. Soreness at the injection site is common afterward. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) notes that pain at the site can increase for the first week or two, and that it may take several weeks to feel a benefit.

Conditions PRP Is Commonly Used to Treat

PRP therapy is used across a range of orthopedic conditions, including:

• Chronic tendon injuries (long-lasting injuries to the tissue that connects muscle to bone), such as tennis elbow and golfer's elbow.
• Ligament sprains, including some anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and medial collateral ligament (MCL) injuries.
• Mild to moderate knee osteoarthritis, a joint condition caused by wear and tear on cartilage.
• Certain overuse injuries, like runner's knee or swimmer's shoulder.
• Some muscle strains.

The AAOS says research supports PRP for chronic tendon injuries, especially tennis elbow. It also describes a growing body of research showing benefit for mild to moderate knee osteoarthritis, with some studies showing results that last up to two years. For other chronic tendon problems, the AAOS calls the evidence promising but not yet clear. It adds that PRP shows little or no benefit when used during ACL or rotator cuff surgery (a repair of shoulder tendons), and that more research is needed for other conditions. This matters for patients weighing their options, since PRP works better for some conditions than others.

What Makes PRP Different from Cortisone or Surgery

Cortisone shots, also called corticosteroid injections, place anti-inflammatory medicine in a painful area. PRP and surgery work in different ways. This table shows how the three options compare.

Cortisone injections tend to work faster for sudden pain and swelling, while PRP is aimed at supporting the body's own tissue repair over time. Surgery is generally saved for injuries where the damage is too serious for non-surgical treatment to fix. Dr. Wong will review a patient's specific injury and history to help decide which option, or mix of options, fits best.

Is PRP Therapy Safe?

PRP is generally considered a safe procedure since it uses the patient's own blood, which lowers the risk of an allergic reaction. According to the Cleveland Clinic, risks are minimal. There is a small chance of contamination if blood is not handled under sterile conditions, and some patients feel more discomfort at the injection site than expected. Patients should tell their provider about any blood thinners or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen, that they take, since these may need to be paused before treatment.

Get Started with PRP Therapy at Modern Edge

Living with a stubborn tendon injury or early-stage joint pain does not have to mean settling for temporary fixes. Modern Edge Sports & Orthopedic Medicine offers PRP therapy as one option among several non-surgical treatments designed to help patients recover and get back to their normal routines.

If a chronic injury has not responded to rest, physical therapy, or other non-surgical treatment, Dr. Michael Wong can evaluate whether PRP therapy is a good fit. Request an appointment with Modern Edge to get started.

Frequently Asked Questions