PRP | Platelet Rich Plasma
PRP stands for platelet-rich plasma which essentially is a concentration of your own platelets and stem cells. Dr. Herzog considers it a concentration of your body’s own custom compounding pharmacy.
One of the most specific functions of platelets is that they increase the blood supply to an area by growing new blood vessels and by setting up a form of GPS to tell your body to send stem cells to the area. Stem cells are the cells that repair any kind of tissue in the body. Your skin, muscles, tendons, and even nerve tissue can be repaired by stem cells.
Platelet cells and stem cells that are in your blood stream can easily be acquired by performing a blood sample from your arm, and increasing the concentration of it by utilizing the process called centrifugation. After the blood goes through centrifugation a concentrated solution of between 5 and 10 mL of platelet-rich plasma is collected. The platelets are essentially your body’s custom compounding pharmacy concentrated to be ready to inject into an area that needs to be healed.
When PRP is injected into your joint, your tendon, your ligament, or soft tissues it sets off a natural healing response which causes the migration of specific stem cells to replace the damaged tissue. This healing process is further intensified by the fact that the PRP causes increased blood supply, so the nutrients and stem cells can get to the area that needs repair.
Treating areas of your body which have poor blood supply is specifically enhanced with PRP treatment. Areas like the rotator cuff, Achilles tendon, plantar fascia, tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow are ideal for PRP treatment. In the hands of Doctor Herzog, the success rate is well over 80% and alleviates the need for costly, painful, and prolonged rehabilitation required by surgical techniques. Being an orthopedic surgeon who has seen both sides of the fence, that is performing many thousands of surgeries and at this point thousands of PRP injections, it is my firm belief that PRP is by far the least expensive, least painful and quickest route to recovery for problems with prolonged tendinitis and partial tearing of tissues.