Joint pain is just that, a real pain — distracting and persistent. It reminds you of its presence incessantly every time you move. Whether your knee hurts from playing tennis with too much oomph or your joints smart due to an age-related condition like arthritis, you deserve better.

Regenerative medicine is an innovative and exciting area of care that’s dramatically different from traditional approaches for alleviating pain. These therapies call upon your body’s own systems to help it heal.

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy is one mode of regenerative therapy that uses your own blood to help relieve pain and strengthen weakened or damaged joints.

Jacob Holdren, DC, is increasingly using PRP therapy because of its highly successful track record in alleviating many painful joint problems — not just in published medical studies, but in our practice here at Regenerative Health and Wellness Medical Center.

How does PRP work?

PRP therapy involves harvesting a small amount of your own blood and reconstituting it. After we draw your blood, we spin it briefly in a device called a centrifuge.

Your blood plasma is made up of red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets, which are rich in growth factors due to certain proteins. The hyper-concentrated serum that we produce during this process is full of platelets that stimulate tissue regeneration and healing. We inject the serum into the joint that needs healing.

Studies have also revealed that PRP causes immune system changes that result in significantly lowered rates of inflammation in the body.

What joint-related conditions can PRP help with?

Since PRP helps restore, regenerate, and strengthen tissue, we find it useful for treating everything from muscle damage to tendon and nerve injuries. These problems can affect people of any age, but if you’re dealing with age-related joint pain, PRP leads to:

• Lowered inflammation
• Less pain
• More ease of movement
• Cartilage production

The progression of joint problems that are the result of aging is markedly slowed by PRP therapy.

A PRP therapy session is patient-friendly

PRP therapy comes with additional upsides. We like it for our patients because it:

• Has few side effects
• Is minimally invasive, especially compared to surgery
• Is a relatively quick process (an hour or two from start to finish)
• Requires no downtime
• Has long-lasting results

And PRP can halt joint damage before it becomes permanent. Dr. Holdren has found that more and more of his patients are seeking the considerable benefits of PRP therapy. Could PRP be right for you?

The ultimate DIY

One of Dr. Hodren’s hobbies is DIY home projects, and regenerative medicine could be considered the medical world’s prime example of this. Your body’s own building blocks can enhance your health, creating a physiological before-and-after scenario.

Find out more about how PRP therapy can help you with joint problems by calling our office and arranging a consultation.