PRP Injections. Anyone done them?

[adam_p]

I have worked with PRP in my practice (periodontics), and it does speed healing, but the effects are short-lived. As far as tennis elbow goes, steroid injections work just fine, are a lot less expensive, and, yes, I'm speaking from experience.

He had multiple steroid injections that only made it feel better for a short period of time.

The PRP fixed it.

[adam_p]

I had it done on my AC joint as well as my knee after ACL surgery. It has been a complete game changer for me. My AC joint was screwed up for nearly a year before I got PRP. I saw multiple specialist before getting it and it was the only thing that worked. You could hear my shoulder crunch from across the room prior to it and it healed in about 10 weeks after getting it. The guy I used was not cheap and did the process with an ultrasound and was very precise. He also adds traditional prolotherapy to the PRP. It has been over 2 years from getting my shoulder/AC joint fixed and it is still great.

I had traditional prolotherapy on the bottom of my sternum for Costochondritis. It sucked for a few days after but was the only thing that helped. I was pain free for several years and occasionally get flare ups now but nothing like before. I was taking 2 vicodin at a time and it wasn't dulling the pain.

Same doc that did mine was who did my brothers PRP. I saw a pamplet for the tennis elbow treatment while they were making me chill out after shooting that stuff in my chest and when my brother started having tennis elbow issues and the ortho doc wanted to do surgery I sent my brother to my pain specialist.

[ThisLadyHunts]

Appreciate all the feedback.

Its not covered under insurance and will cost me 800-1000$ per round. He thinks 1 round should do the trick.

Would hate to drop 1k$ on the procedure just to find out a month or 2 down the road its a no go and then have to do surgery. Heck thats the cost of the new bow I've been wanting!

Therein lies the conundrum.

I’ve been told by two docs that once you’ve had surgery, regenerative medicine will longer be effective for those injuries in the future. But, you’re right, it’s expensive (my foot was $850) and not covered by insurance.

It’s also painful. I’ve given childbirth twice, suffered through...I don’t know...10 or 12 kidney stones, suffered with migraines, and struggled through menopause (because God hates me and all the other stuff wasn’t enough). I know what pain is and, yes, this was painful. Your doc should give you pain meds, just as he would after surgery. Don’t be a hero...take the pain meds.

The upside of regenerative medicine—assuming it works for you—is that you’ll recover quicker than you will from surgery and there is no need for extensive PT in order to become functional again (although this blanket statement may not be true for everyone.

Hope this helps.

[ThisLadyHunts]

Appreciate all the feedback.

Its not covered under insurance and will cost me 800-1000$ per round. He thinks 1 round should do the trick.

Would hate to drop 1k$ on the procedure just to find out a month or 2 down the road its a no go and then have to do surgery. Heck thats the cost of the new bow I've been wanting!

Therein lies the conundrum.

I’ve been told by two docs that once you’ve had surgery, regenerative medicine will longer be effective for those injuries in the future. But, you’re right, it’s expensive (my foot was $850) and not covered by insurance.

It’s also painful. I’ve given childbirth twice, suffered through...I don’t know...10 or 12 kidney stones, suffered with migraines, and struggled through menopause (because God hates me and all the other stuff wasn’t enough). I know what pain is and, yes, this was painful. Your doc should give you pain meds, just as he would after surgery. Don’t be a hero...take the pain meds.

The upside of regenerative medicine—assuming it works for you—is that you’ll recover quicker than you will from surgery and there is no need for extensive PT in order to become functional again (although this blanket statement may not be true for everyone).

Hope this helps.

[BrandonH]

Have not done it personally, but have seen it work on others. If delaying surgery won't make things worse down the road I'd probably try the PRP to avoid surgery. Worst case scenario you'll be out a little $ and have surgery later.

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[labman]

Yes, I had shoulder surgery in 12/19, with a bone marrow injection into the joint, and two PRP injections into the torn cuffs and labrum. Based upon a similar surgery in 12/16 without the biologics, both injections sped up the healing/rehab process dramatically.

My ortho doc is at the Carrell Clinic in Dallas and is one of the best shoulder drs anywhere. His clinical studies over the past several years have shown an marked improvement with PRP usage for both surgical and non surgical outcomes. It's not a magic bullet and doesn't work for everyone.

I would highly recommend NOT using a cortisone/steroid shot. They degrade the tissue over time. None of the orthopedic group at the Carrell clinic recommends steroid shots anymore. The practice is the Cowboys team docs, and provide consultation with the Stars, SMU and Rangers. They are the equivalent to the Andrews group.

I have a torn peroneal ankle tendon that requires surgery, I will not hesitate to have the PRP injection during surgery. Unfortunately, the tear is too large to try and rehab with rehab, PRP and non-surgery. Otherwise, I'd attempt it.

Good luck.

[rferg84]

I was going to for my ankle and to treat platar fascitis back about four years ago.

I tried steroid shots and PT.

I ended up just having ankle surgery and the 6 weeks I spent resting and rehabing fix my PF.

So I'm zero help but I've heard it's a great non surgical options, my doctor was big on it.

[DRT]

In the knees. There was improvement in daily walking discomfort that has lasted a year now. Still the knee that is the worst gives me grief.

Gary

[ThisLadyHunts]

My docs told me the same thing about steroid shots. I did them on my for the better part of three years and I wonder if they’re the reason my second experience w/ PRP wasn’t quite as successful as my first.

On a related note, my ortho doc told me that your body’s stem cells become less efficacious with age. He went on to say that the best source for stem cells is cord blood. Ante-partum is when stem cells are the most elastic (meaning, I think, able to replicate ANY cell where it’s placed, rather than, say, cartilage only) and the least likely to be rejected by the immune system of a non-relative recipient.

I did not save the umbilical cord or cord blood from any of my children because, at the time, we couldn’t afford. Now, I will insist that birth tissue be saved for each of my future grandchildren, even if I have to pay for it myself.

[U.S.ArmyRetired]

I am supposed to have PRP done 9 June to correct years of heel pain and pain in my foot. I am kind of second thinking the the whole thing. I have heard it is very painful. The doc told me he is going to take blood out and do something to it and reinject it back into my foot. Not sure which part is supposed to be painful but I am guessing the injection into the foot. Second thinking or overthinking????

[bowhuntertx]

PRP can help with a inflammatory issues. If you have a tear in soft tissue(cuff tear, meniscus, etc) it won’t magically heal that tear. That is where surgery comes in.
It can help the inflammatory response, which is why you hear of the injections temporarily helping the symptoms subside.


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[roysmoke]

I am supposed to have PRP done 9 June to correct years of heel pain and pain in my foot. I am kind of second thinking the the whole thing. I have heard it is very painful. The doc told me he is going to take blood out and do something to it and reinject it back into my foot. Not sure which part is supposed to be painful but I am guessing the injection into the foot. Second thinking or overthinking????

It's really not that bad. They numbed the areas they were injecting on me. I drove myself home and was fine. About an hour or two later when the pain meds wear off you feel like you got in a fight. You're sore for a couple days and it progressively gets better. I took Tylenol for a day and was fine.

[ThisLadyHunts]

What he said (ROYSMOKE).

The pain is the result of your doctor having to make multiple sticks with a hypodermic needle, and then having to move the needle around in there in order to distribute your plasma "all over." They'll inject you locally with lidocaine but, as ROYSMOKE said, once the lidocaine wears off, you will experience pain. I took Tylenol during the day for pain management but took the "good stuff" at night so I could sleep. I get downright ugly when I don't get my sleep.

The procedure takes very little time. You'll walk in, they'll do a blood draw--60cc's, I believe--then you wait 15 to 30 minutes while they place your collected blood in a centrifuge in order to separate out the plasma. It is that plasma that they inject into you.

To sum it all up...if you're squeamish, just look away.

[Barrett]

My wife tried PRP twice for her spine. Man that lady is tough watching the needle go into her spine area. She got no relief, but apparently that treatment is not the best for spine related injuries anyway. I hope you have some better luck with it.

[DRT]

My first one hurt so dang bad I didn't go back. I had paid for three in each knee.
A year later I was back for a torn rotator cuff. The injection doc said they started putting a cc of lidocaine in with it. So I tried it and it was tolerable. Still left my knees sore for weeks.

Gary