You may have heard about a new technology called PRP therapy but aren’t too sure what it really means — but you might just be surprised by how important this medical advancement has already become for repairing orthopedic injuries! Here are just a few basics about PRP therapy and what it entails:

• PRP therapy stands for platelet-rich plasma therapy and it’s often associated with stem cell therapy. PRP provides a sort of boost to help the healing process after a surgery or injury.
  

• PRP is actually sort of a natural way to help the body heal, because instead of injecting drugs into a person’s system, the injection fluid is actually made from the person’s own blood! Blood naturally has different types of cells and the platelet cells circulate through the body to help heal injuries; platelets are essential for clotting. With PRP therapy, blood is drawn out and then the platelets are separated, creating a highly concentrated plasma, which can then be injected into the region where there’s an injury.
  

• PRP therapy has been proven to be very effective when the body is trying to heal an injury that occurred with soft tissue or bone. Achilles tendon injuries, for example, can be incredibly painful and are difficult to heal; PRP can be used in conjunction with other physical therapy techniques in order to aid the healing process. PRP is also used for muscle injuries, acute and severe injuries to ligaments and tendons, and even certain types of arthritis in the joints.
  

• One of the biggest advantages with PRP therapy is simply that it’s a low-risk type of regenerative medicine; because it’s made from the patient’s own blood, there’s a very low risk of negative side effects. Of course, the injured area won’t heal overnight and the injection spot might feel a little sore for a while, but this is completely natural and won’t last for a long time.