How Can Platelet-Rich Plasma Treatment Help Athletes With Overuse Injuries?
Overuse injuries, like Achilles tendinitis, are common in athletes. Whenever you run, swing a bat, or throw a ball, you put some stress on your ligaments and tendons, and the stress causes them to slowly break down. If your ligaments and tendons break down faster than they naturally heal, they'll become inflamed and painful. You'll develop an overuse injury, and you'll need to take a break from playing and training while you wait for your injury to heal.
One way that you can speed up the process is platelet-rich plasma treatment. PRP treatment aids your body's own ability to heal itself from an overuse injury. During a treatment, a sample of your blood will be taken from a vein and put into a centrifuge. The centrifuge will concentrate all of the platelets in your blood into a small amount of plasma, and this super-concentrated plasma will be injected near the ligament or tendon that's injured from overuse. To learn more about how PRP treatments help athletes recover from overuse injuries, read on.
PRP Treatments Help You Return to Being Active
Platelets are a part of your immune system's defense against injury. Whenever the platelets in your blood come across damaged tissue, they'll start to release growth factors that start your body's natural process of healing the damage.
Platelet-rich plasma has a much higher concentration of platelets in it than is normally found in your bloodstream. When it's injected next to a ligament or tendon that's damaged for overuse, more growth factors will be released than your body is ordinarily capable of. This helps boost healing, allowing you to get back to training more quickly. A quick recovery means you'll lose less speed and strength while waiting for your overuse injury to heal, enabling you to return to your normal athletic performance in a shorter period of time.
PRP Treatments Help Prevent Chronic Pain
Overuse injuries, if not treated, can eventually lead to chronic pain. When the tissue in a ligament or tendon breaks down too much, it will eventually start to scar. Calcium deposits will build up on the scar tissue, and your body has no way to remove them.
Calcified scar tissue in your ligaments and tendons can lead to permanent chronic pain long after you've ended your athletic career. By treating your overuse injuries with platelet-rich plasma and helping them heal more quickly, you'll reduce the risk of scar tissue forming in them and calcifying.
Ultimately, platelet-rich plasma treatment can both help you get back in the game more quickly and reduce the risk that you'll suffer long-term pain from an overuse injury. If you've been sidelined with an overuse injury, find a clinic in your area that offers PRP treatment and schedule an appointment to see how they can help you heal and recover.
