How PRP Therapy Can Help You Heal After a Sports Injury

Between the recent pandemic and the data outside of that indicating a rise in weight problems in the U.S., physical activity is increasing, with 242 million people over 6 years old participating in at least one physical fitness or sports activity in 2023 alone. That’s nearly 80% of people in America and part of a positive trend that’s been going on for a decade.

Being active is great for the body, but even careful movement can wear down the muscles and joints. These and other factors increase the risk of injury, and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy is a way to let the body heal itself and get you back out on the field or in the gym. 

Do you live in the Fort Worth, Texas, area and need to rehabilitate an injury from sports or exercise? Dr. Joseph Daniels and the experienced staff at Southwest Orthopedic Associates can help.

Common sports injuries

Running, jumping, lifting, stretching, and other activities involved in intense physical activities every day, such as sports and exercise, often damage the musculoskeletal system. This network of joints, muscles, bones, tendons, ligaments, and other tissues makes those movements possible.

Damage in this part of the body can lead to problems like:

• Fractures and breaks: these can result from collisions, falls, and sudden twists of bones

• Bursitis: bursa is the soft tissue in your joints that is affected by repetitive strains 

• Contusions: bruises that are usually minor but in muscle or bone can be dangerous

• Dislocations: when joints are forced out of their normal position in the socket

• Sprains and strains: stretching and tears in the ligaments and tendons

How PRP therapy works to help

This process uses your blood to repair tissue damage by concentrating the plasma in your blood and injecting it into injured parts of the body. We draw some of your blood and run it through a centrifuge, separating the platelets into a plasma. This creates a much more significant amount of platelets, several times more than a regular blood sample, which is injected and helps stimulate collagen production, encourage cell division, reduce inflammation, and help relieve chronic pain.

Post-procedure expectations

Once the injection is done, improvements can take a few weeks to appear. Depending on your injury, more treatments may be necessary for best results, though a single dose can last over a year. Because PRP therapy uses your own blood to do its work, the side effects are minimal, though some short-term pain and inflammation can occur in some cases. 

We can offer this treatment in combination with other therapies to help you recover from injuries and get back on your feet. For help recovering from injury or other sports-related issues, make an appointment with Dr. Daniels and his team at Southwest Orthopedic Associates today.