In the U.S. alone, about one out of every six people suffers from some form of arthritis. That number includes about 300,000 children and more than 50 million others. It’s a fact of the disease that most of us face an increased chance of having to deal with it as we get older. Additionally, the condition is more prevalent among women than it is among men. In fact, based solely on statistics, Arthritis is the most common cause of medical disability for people who live in the U.S.
Fortunately, many who face arthritis in their daily lives have a relatively new option for effective treatment, called platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy. It’s an all-natural, non-surgical, non-drug approach that uses the body’s own healing power, locked within the blood, to help arthritis sufferers regain mobility and live without the overwhelming pain that often accompanies the condition.
If you or someone you love experiences the negative effects of arthritis, it’s important to learn about what PRP is, how it can treat arthritis, and how safe and effective it is. Additionally, it’s good to educate yourself about arthritis, especially who gets it, what parts of the body it affects, and what it can do if left untreated.
What is Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) Therapy?
PRP uses your blood’s platelets, which contain healing agents like growth factors, to naturally speed up the healing process in areas of the body affected by arthritis, injuries, and other conditions. Platelets are but one component of your blood, along with white and red cells, and plasma. They are the factor that helps you heal when you experience a cut or bruise.
Technicians remove a blood sample from your body, spin it to isolate the platelets, and then inject them back into your body at the location of the pain or injury. Not only can this platelet-rich plasma speed up the healing process, it can also reduce inflammation and bring about a reduction in pain and, eventually, better mobility through full use of the muscle and limb.
PRP and Arthritis
For anyone who has arthritis, inflammation can be a major contributor to the overall pain. When platelet-rich plasma is introduced to the site of the pain, via injection, your body undergoes a rapid regeneration because your blood’s platelets contain the above-mentioned growth factors and natural substances for quicker-than-usual healing and pain relief.
And, because inflammation is reduced, any pressure on joints, the spine, or the discs of the spine is reduced, which means less pain, less swelling, and accelerated healing.
Who and Where Arthritis Strikes
As noted above, women tend to get arthritis more often than men do, and the disease is much more common in older folks than young people. If you have diabetes, are overweight, have arthritis in your family, or have a job that requires repetitive movements, then you are at a higher risk of being affected by arthritis at some time in your life.
Where does the pain strike? Here’s a list of the five most common body areas, even though arthritis can affect just about any area of the human body.
- The hips and all surrounding areas
- The neck and surrounding areas
- The back, particularly the lower back
- Thumbs, fingers, or the entire hand
- The knee and areas near the knees
Why People Choose PRP
It’s obvious that PRP therapy has many uses in addition to helping relieve the pain of arthritis. For example, people turn to PRP treatment for a number of reasons, including degenerative disc disease. People choose it for various reasons as well.
For example, many arthritis sufferers opt for the all-natural PRP treatment because it uses the body’s own blood, so there’s no risk of infection. Doctors call it a bio-compatible” treatment because people simply can’t acquire an infection from their own blood.
And, if you don’t respond well to steroids, anti-inflammatory medications, or traditional oral meds, PRP is a viable, usually preferable alternative. PRP is non-invasive. There is zero discomfort. Pain relief lasts for months after just a single session. Plus, you can usually go right back to work after a PRP treatment session.
What Arthritis Can Do To Your Body
The symptoms and causes of arthritis are complex and vary a great deal from person to person. For some, the condition is completely debilitating while others only endure mild symptoms that respond well to early forms of treatment.
What can it do to us? Here’s a look at how arthritis works to debilitate the human body:
- In later stages, it can cause bones to come in direct contact with one anther, which can be the source of intense pain and further injury. Bones are not meant to rub against each other and the process of doing so can break down otherwise healthy bone tissue.
- Destruction of the cartilage, the vital connective tissue between joints and bones. When cartilage volume decreases, you’re at risk for bone-on-bone contact (see above) and many other problems.
- Inflammation of the capsule that houses joints and of the lining of joints.
- Ligaments and tendons can become painfully stretched.
- Decay of the tendons and other connective tissues in the joints. This is one of the many reasons that arthritis often causes pain in or near the joints.
Keep in mind that the above listing only deals with the direct physical effects of arthritis. When people are forced to live with long-term pain, they often experience emotional distress as well, like depression, the inability to get a good night’s sleep, lack of mobility, and increasing physical problems.
What About Safety and Results?
PRP has proven its effectiveness through millions of treatments, even though the therapy is still new compared to many traditional, less effective forms of arthritis treatment. Done on an out-patient basis, PRP has a reputation for safety. The sessions take place in a totally sterile medical environment and carry zero risk of infection and almost no risk of allergic response.
Plus, it typically takes just two or three weeks before long-term pain relief is achieved. The results speak for themselves as more and more arthritis sufferers seek out non-surgical, non-drug, non-invasive PRP therapy. Another key advantage of the new treatment is that it can relieve many types of osteoarthritis, particularly when patients catch the disease in its early stages.
Being Smart About Treatment
It might sound strange, but it’s important to respect the power of arthritis. Untreated, it can turn even the most vigorous, youthful person into a sufferer who has little mobility and few options for relief. The good news is that if the condition is caught early enough, much can be done to slow, relieve, and treat it quite effectively.
At Integrative Physical Health, we give our patients as many options as possible to stop arthritis in its tracks, and that includes PRP therapy. At our office, we perform PRP procedures on people who experience the pain of arthritis and want modern, non-surgical, non-drug care alternatives.
If you’re facing down one of the most common, and potentially most debilitating conditions of all, namely arthritis, give our office a call at (302) 993-9113 and make an appointment for a no-obligation consultation. If you’d like to know more about what we do at Integrative Physical Health, feel free to check out our website or call and ask any questions you have about your health, whether it’s related to arthritis or something else.
Our practice offers a full range of regenerative medicine options (like PRP), chiropractic treatment, myofascial therapy, and exercise rehab. We welcome new patients and strive to give everyone the treatment most suited to their condition.
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