Is PRP Right for Me?

Your body works at self-regeneration around the clock, whether it’s growing hair and new skin cells or repairing damage from injuries and surgery. The nutrients from the foods we eat deliver the building blocks of these growth and repair processes. 

Sometimes, your body’s rate of regeneration is limited by the speed of delivery of these resources. If a doctor could provide your body with more of these raw materials of healing, you could recover more quickly. That’s the principle behind platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy. 

Extracting and concentrating elements of your own blood provides an injectable serum that reduces pain and speeds healing. PRP provides advantages to a remarkable range of conditions. 

The team at Westside Pain Specialists uses their expertise in PRP therapy to help sports injuries, surgical recovery, chronic conditions, and much more. Is PRP right for you? Let’s look at the process in more detail. 

The properties of platelets

Platelets are the blood component that’s best known for the ability to form clots and scabs when you have cuts or scrapes. Stopping the flow of blood at the site of an injury is an important job. Once bleeding is under control, another feature of platelets comes to the fore. 

Platelets also carry growth factor hormones, the chemical messengers that help to control healing processes in the body. PRP boosts the level of growth factor hormones at the site of injection, lowering inflammation, reducing pain, and speeding the conversion of stem cells into specific tissues needed for repairs. 

Making PRP serum

The PRP process starts with a sample of blood, a similar amount to that drawn for a typical blood test. Your sample is then separated to isolate platelets, which are extracted and mixed with a small amount of plasma. 

Because it’s your blood, there’s no concern about compatibility or safety. The mixture is ready for injection at the site of injury or pain. 

PRP treatments

PRP can be used for a wide range of conditions. At Westside Pain Specialists, we tend to focus on chronic health issues and postsurgical recovery. 

Patients with arthritis often find that the addition of PRP therapy reduces their need for pain medication while increasing joint flexibility. While PRP can’t yet reverse the damage of arthritis, it does seem to slow the progression for many. 

Tendon injury treatment gets a boost from PRP, particularly those tendons that are prone to reinjury. A common use of PRP in professional athletics is as a boost for performance recovery, even in the absence of a specific injury. PRP may speed the healing progress for muscle and tendon micro tears. 

One of the great benefits of PRP is its compatibility with other therapies. You won’t have to change other treatments to add PRP injections to your healing management plan. 

The best way to know if PRP is right for you is in consultation with Dr. James Nassiri and our team at Westside Pain Specialists. We review your condition and medical history and let you know if you stand to benefit from the addition of PRP injections. 

Contact our nearest office in Beverly Hills or Rancho Cucamonga, California, to book your session with us today.