If you have an injury that isn’t healing the way it should or chronic pain that you just can’t seem to kick, regenerative medicine can help. Treatments within this specialty focus on harnessing your body’s natural healing power to get the outcome you want: less pain faster.
Medical professionals today often leverage platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy as a key component of their regenerative medicine toolbox. As a PRP specialist, Dr. Jonathan D. Carlson can use this treatment for a broad range of issues at our Hawai’i Pain and Spine office on the Windward side of Oʻahu in Kailua. With PRP, he addresses back pain, arthritis, sports injuries, and more.
If you’re dealing with persistent discomfort, this treatment could be just what your body needs. Let’s look at some of its biggest benefits.
To administer PRP therapy, Dr. Carlson takes a very small sample of your blood. Using a centrifuge, he separates out the platelets and plasma and mixes them to create the PRP. He injects the concentrated substance wherever your body needs it. If you have knee pain, for example, Dr. Carlson can place the PRP around your knee.
Once injected, the growth factors in the platelets go to work. This mimics your body’s natural healing response. Whenever you get cut, for example, your body sends platelets to the area to clot your blood and support healing in the area.
By applying the platelet-rich solution, Dr. Carlson taps into your body’s ability to heal itself, stimulating and supporting the processes that need to naturally occur to alleviate pain in the treatment area.
With PRP, nothing synthetic enters your system. Because Dr. Carlson derives the PRP for this minimally invasive treatment from your own blood, the risk of any adverse reaction is extremely small.
The growth factors in the PRP help your body to create new, healthy cells at the injection site. This supports the repair of injured ligaments, tendons, and muscles and makes PRP effective for a broad range of conditions, including:
In short, if you’re living with discomfort, talk to Dr. Carlson. If PRP can treat your condition, he can explore this option with you.
There’s no downtime with PRP therapy. You can leave our office and get on with your day right afterward.
Some people experience some soreness for a few days after treatment, but that means the PRP effectively stimulated your body’s healing response in the area. In the weeks and months after your treatment, the regenerative processes that the PRP stimulated go to work, driving lessened pain and increased mobility.
PRP therapy offers a multitude of benefits. If you want to explore this treatment for yourself, call our office to schedule your appointment today.
