Your own blood could help to treat your osteoarthritis (OA). That is good news for the 30 million adults in the United States who are suffering from the disease. The method is called PRP therapy, short for platelet-rich plasma therapy and also called autologous conditioned plasma (ACP) therapy. This treatment leverages the healing capacity that exists naturally within the blood to help injured or deteriorated tissue recover.
PRP therapy actually has wide applications: along with osteoarthritis, it is also used for hair loss, tendon damage, acute injuries, and postsurgical recovery. There may not yet be proof for how effective PRP therapy is for OA progression, or other uses – but the method is getting increasing attention because of its high-profile adherents, including Rafael Nadal and Tiger Woods. Plus, doctors who see improvement in their patients in certain situations recommend the strategy to others who could similarly benefit.
As indicated above, the PRP is sourced from your blood. This plasma has more platelets than is typical, though. The plasma is separated by doctors, and then its platelet concentration is increased before it is reintroduced to the body.
How Platelet-Rich Plasma Works to Treat OA
When a doctor uses PRP therapy for osteoarthritis, platelet-rich plasma is injected straight into the joint. The three basic goals are alleviation of pain, better operation of the joint, and blocking (and possibly reversing) of the degeneration.
It is not known why PRP therapy could help in the alleviation of osteoarthritis symptoms. However, many doctors and researchers believe that it can:
- Counter inflammation and hinder development of OA
- Boost new cartilage production
- Stimulate release of additional joint lubricating fluid so that movement is more comfortable
- Introduce proteins to limit the amount of pain that a patient experiences.
When PRP therapy is used to treat knee OA, the practitioner will inject the PRP into the joint. Another type of injection that has been used traditionally to relieve osteoarthritis (and still used today) is hyaluronic acid injections. It made sense for researchers to compare the two options. That was the focus of a 2015 study – and the researchers found that PRP delivered better results.
Getting Help for Your OA
Are you suffering from osteoarthritis? PRP therapy could help you regain your quality of life. At OrthoGen, our mission is to lead modern joint and pain treatments away from invasive surgeries and into the new frontier of stem cell and platelet-rich plasma therapies. See our history.