Louisville Basketball Player May Benefit from PRP Therapy

The recent gruesome injury of Louisville basketball player, Kevin Ware, shocked America. The Louisville sophomore's broken tibia protruded from his skin as he scooted himself off the court in the Cardinals’ match against Duke during the NCAA tournament. His leg hung awkwardly as his teammates and coaches looked on, shocked.

While these horrific injuries are fairly uncommon, there luckily are various treatment options available to Ware to ensure a quick and full recovery. One fairly new pain management treatment option called PRP therapy (Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy) is helping many professional athletes heal and return to playing sooner. The benefits include quicker healing time with no surgery required. It has shown great results for common athletic injuries such as fasciitis, tendonosis, muscle, ligament and tendon strains, sprains and tears, and more.

What is PRP?
PRP is also known as autologous blood concentrate APC. Platelets are a specialized type of blood cell that are involved with injury healing. With PRP, a concentrated platelet solution is injected into the injured area to stimulate healing, yielding more effective and faster results.

How does it work?
As an minimally-invasive treatment, the entire process takes only 30-40 minutes. Blood is first drawn from the patient and spun down into centrifuge where platelets are separated from the red blood cells and are concentrated. The platelets are then used for treatment after the injection area is numbed with a local anesthetic.

When it's injected into the area of the injury, the PRP stimulates the tendon or ligament, causing minor inflammation which triggers the healing process. New collagen begins to develop, later tightening and strengthening the injured area.

This is only one type of therapy that basketball player, Kevin Ware might consider on his road to recovery. Learn more about PRP therapy with New York Pain Care Center today.