For many patients with Chronic Pain, a solution can sometimes feel hopeless. Chronic Pain can be debilitating, leaving you suffering with pain and affecting your everyday life and the people around it.
With so many conditions causing Chronic Pain, the goal is to get to the root cause and use methods and forms of treatment that will heal your pain instead of masking it. Putting a temporary bandage on the issue, often done with prescription narcotics, leaves you dependent on medication with no real solution.
One of the treatments we offer at ISPW is Regenerative Medicine. This modern treatment uses your body to heal itself, hoping that the treatment will relieve or reduce pain symptoms.
Regenerative Medicine
Regenerative Medicine is a modern and cutting-edge treatment used to heal and help prevent tissue injury or damage. It uses Platelet-Rich-Plasma to repair and regenerate the tissue and help restore function and relieve pain.
What is Platelet-Rich-Plasma?
Platelet-Rich-Plasma, or PRP, is a therapy in which your body uses its natural goth factors to heal damaged or injured tissue. This regenerative medicine treatment has been used for years to treat professional athletes. Recently Doctors, treating everyday people have been educated on this science and can now offer these cutting-edge treatments to all patients. PRP uses the natural growth factors harvested from a patient’s plasma (blood) and then injected into the injured area.
How is the PRP created?
It is harvested by performing a blood draw on a patient. The blood is then placed into a centrifuge to be spun down. This fast spinning motion separates the red blood cells from the white blood cells. The white blood cells are extracted from the tube using a sterile syringe. These white blood cells are what contain all of the natural growth factors and are called leukocytes.
It’s important to know that different types of PRP are used to treat other injuries. For example, Leukocyte (white blood cell) poor PRP (LP PRP)- has very few leukocytes and is excellent for the repair of soft tissue Leukocyte (white blood cell)rich PRP (LR PRP)- has a more significant concentration of leukocytes in it and higher platelet count. This type of PRP is suitable for tendon and ligament repair. It also works to reduce target inflammation.
Who is a candidate for PRP Treatment?
- you’re unable to perform daily activities because of joint or tendon pain.
- surgical treatment is not desired
- the patient wants to take a more natural approach to healing their injury
- the patient wants to do the treatment as preventive care to protect, strengthen and
- help reduce the chances of future ligament or tendon pain.
Who is not a candidate for PRP treatment?
- people who smoke
- have skin infections, skin diseases, or a metastatic disease
- have specific blood or bleeding disorders
What to expect on the day of the procedure
The patient will be asked to follow an anti-inflammatory lifestyle two to three weeks before the procedure. The patient will be given an anti-inflammatory guidebook to reference.
When the patient arrives, they will be given paperwork to fill out before the procedure. They will be asked to fast before their operation and to remain properly hydrated to get a good blood draw. Once the paperwork is completed, the patient will be shown to our relaxation room, where one of our nurses will perform the blood draw before placing the blood in our centrifuge to be spun down. The nurse will escort the patient to the exam room to see Dr. Goyle.
Dr. Goyle will do an ultrasound exam to see exactly where the injury is located and where he will need to do the injection. By using our ultrasound machine, Dr. Goyle can thoroughly and precisely examine the injured area(s), increasing the injection’s success.
After the examination is complete, Dr. Goyle will prep and sterilize the area. He will then inject the PRP into the injured areas. Please note: numbing or sedation is available when requested.
After the Procedure
Knowing that a patient may have increased pain after the procedure is essential. This is normal and usually lasts for two weeks. You will notice that the pain may increase and decrease for the next 2-8 weeks. The patient will be asked to continue following an anti-inflammatory lifestyle for 2-4 weeks. Following an anti-inflammatory lifestyle helps the healing process and the success of the injection(s).
At week 2, the patient will start physical therapy. Physical therapy is crucial in helping to heal the injured area. Most patients won’t see a significant difference until about 8-12 weeks after the procedure.
Important things to know.
Before deciding if PRP is right for you, make sure to do extensive research to determine if this procedure is something that could be right for you. Dr. Goyle tells his patients that this procedure will not fix their injury overnight. It takes time for an injury to happen, so it will also take time to heal it. This procedure may be for you if you want to recover your ligaments naturally, using your own body.
It’s also important to know that you may need more than one procedure, depending on the extent of your injury. This procedure is not covered by insurance and is an out-of-pocket expense. When you receive your initial examination from Dr. Goyle, he will be able to give you the cost breakdown before moving forward.
For any additional questions regarding Regenerative Medicine and PRP injections, please feel free to reach out.
Here’s to good health and less pain,
Dr. Goyle
