Your body stays healthy and strong thanks to its natural ability to produce new cells that repair injured and diseased tissues. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) takes full advantage of this amazing ability by extracting one of your body’s key regenerative tools: platelets.
Platelets contain numerous proteins that are essential for the healing process. At the Regenerative Institute of Newport Beach, we specialize in harnessing the power of platelets, producing PRP that contains a high concentration of these cells and using them to heal your injury and relieve your pain.
Here are the five top reasons why PRP therapy is so effective:
Platelets accelerate healing.
PRP is effective is because it contains a high concentration of platelets that accelerate healing. When you suffer an injury or develop a disease, the platelets in your bloodstream travel to the damaged tissues and release vital healing proteins such as growth factors.
An injection of PRP gives healing a significant boost by depositing a large number of platelets at the injured tissues. Enhancing your body’s healing ability is especially valuable when you’ve injured ligaments or tendons that naturally heal slowly or when your injury is severe.
PRP releases growth factors that rebuild tissues.
Platelets contain many different types of growth factors that have names like platelet-derived growth factor, transforming growth factor, vascular endothelial growth factor, and epidermal growth factor. The various growth factors secreted by platelets help tissues heal by:
- Stimulating the production of blood vessels
- Promoting cellular division and development
- Regenerating collagen, ligaments, tendons, bone, fat, and skin
- Recruiting stem cells to the area
- Preventing degeneration of healthy tissues
- Releasing proteins that allow new cells to connect and rebuild tissues
When you get a PRP injection, a larger number of growth factors are available than the amount normally at work in your bloodstream. As a result, PRP improves your health by speeding up new cell growth at the cellular level.
PRP regulates inflammation.
Inflammation is an important part of the healing process, but it must be regulated to prevent long-term damage. After you suffer an injury, nutrients, white blood cells, enzymes, and other beneficial substances flood the affected area. Their arrival starts the healing process and leads to the initial inflammation you experience after an injury.
After a while, however, it’s important for inflammation to subside. If inflammation persists too long, it interferes with healing and starts to cause damage. The platelets in your PRP therapy are important for regulating inflammation. They release anti-inflammatory factors and anti-bacterial peptides to suppress inflammation.
PRP lowers the risk of scarring.
When soft tissues like tendons and ligaments heal too slowly, they develop an excessive amount of scar tissue. This affects their strength after it heals. Since strength declines in proportion to the amount of scar tissue, a tendon with too much scarring is easily reinjured.
PRP injections help prevent this problem by accelerating healing. Platelets also release growth factors that reduce inflammatory scarring, while promoting the growth of collagen, which is needed to rebuild strong, healthy tissues.
PRP has an excellent safety record.
PRP doesn’t produce any known side effects. You also don’t need to worry about adverse reactions from using a blood product because PRP is made from your blood. When you need a PRP treatment, we draw a sample of your blood and process it in a centrifuge, which separates platelets from other blood components. Then it’s easy to draw your PRP into a needle and use it for your injection.
To learn if you might benefit from PRP therapy, call the Regenerative Institute of Newport Beach, or schedule an appointment online.