Anyone had PRP for an injury (in this case a tendon injury)? I have a long term chronic injury which is getting slightly better with constant PT, strength training, etc. however, PT (who is exceptional and very knowledgeable) has mentioned PRP sort of speeding up the process of healing particularly with a chronic injury.
Tell me about your experience with this.
Thanks
KK
I have degenerative tears in my meniscus in both knees. I am asymptomatic in everyday life, but when I get a lot of run volume, I get some fluid build up in the knees and tightness. I do PRP injections in my knees 4 times a year and this allows me to keep my run volume up and train for Iron distance races, without the tightness and fluid build up. The PRP knocks it back. I have trained and raced 9 full IM’s and over dozen 70.3’s and the PRP injections have allowed me to do it. For me it was a game changer, but it does not work for everyone. You have to give it a try and see how your body responds. If it doesn’t respond, you stop. If it does, keep going. It’s expensive and most of the time not covered by insurance. But if it lets you do what you want to do, then we’ll worth it IMO.
Tendons get very little blood flowing through them. Therefore, they take at least six weeks or months to heal, if they heal at all. PRP delivers nutrient rich blood with your own growth factor to the injured site, speeding up the healing process. I’ve had some success with PRP for the partial thickness tears in my rotator cuff, but stem cell therapy provided the best result for me.
I have done PRP for a) a high hamstring tear and b) a torn atf ligament.
In both cases, my healing was at a plateau until I got the PRP - 2-3 weeks after the PRP, I started to note improvement that continued until the injury was gone. I’ve seen other friends have similar good results. If PRP is an option and you can afford it, I would always try it before surgery or giving up. In your situation, it seems to me like the obvious next step.
A few points that I’ve learned over the years.
PRP is not a quick fix. In my experience, it makes things WORSE for the first 10 days or so, and then you see steady improvement over the next 6 months. It’s not something you get so you can do your goal race in 3 weeks.
PRP is not a substitute for doing your PT and addressing any imbalances. Rather, it’s a helpful supplement to your PT and other rehab work - it gets you over “the hump” from a healing perspective.
Who does the PRP matters. You want to work with someone who does PRP all the time. And if at all possible (depends on the location) the PRP should be injected with ultrasound guidance. PRP is not like a cortisone injection, where there’s a relatively broad area of action, and as long as you get it close enough, you’re good. PRP needs to be targeted.
If you are in the DC area, I have used Dr. Wagner at National Spine/Pain in Tysons, and I strongly recommend him. I know others who have used Dr. Siddiqui at ROSM in DC, and have been happy with their results.
I have had PRP 3 times, for 3 different injuries and each time the outcome was positive (Labrum, and 2 different achilles issues). The days after varied in how I felt, with the hip being the quickest to respond and feel better, but overall, I rate the impact on my injuries high and would definitely consider it for any future tendon injury to facilitate faster healing.
Hit by a car cycling on 4/27 and landed on both knees initially. Right knee diagnosed with a partial tear of the knee extensor mechanism (effectively quad tendon). PT for a while, not much help. PRP on July 12th. 10 days off after it “to let it settle†then back to PT. Honestly notice zero difference as of yet. They do say it takes quite a while—like 2-6 months to work—but as of now my take is that it’s expensive snake oil (was $1.8k out of pocket, insurance won’t cover).
Haven’t had it but did some thinking about it for high hamstring tendinitis in spring 2020. What tendon for you? Sorry you are hurt - pls keep us updated as to your healing.
I had PRP back in early April of this year for a nasty bout of ITBS. The first 10 days were rough, it certainly didn’t feel like it was getting better. I had an ultrasound on day 14 and by then it was feeling much better, with a lot of healing confirmed by the ultrasound. Another ultrasound 4 weeks after the therapy confirmed it was 99% healed. I think it works better/worse depending on what you’re trying to heal. In my case it seemed to work very well, but I was an idiot and tried running/cycling too soon.
I had PRP a few years ago. This is my experience, which I wrote as a testimonial for my doctor:
I came to xxxxxxx with persistent and continuing pain near the outside of my left ankle. As a person who has been very active all of my adult life with cycling, hiking, running, and triathlon, it was very dispiriting that I could not stand and walk for more than ten minutes without severe pain. I had been experiencing this pain for several months and neither rest nor physical therapy was helping. I was in my late 40s and had stopped riding my road bike due to fear of worsening this injury. Hiking was also completely off the table. Dr. xxxxx was able to diagnose a torn tendon, and recommended PRP injections to stimulate healing. Within two weeks after the first PRP injection, my symptoms began to dramatically improve. I was able to begin exercising again. A second PRP injection further accelerated the progress. Now, four months after the first injection, the ankle injury is 95% healed
After getting a PRP injection, how long do you wait before returning to Swimming? Biking? Running?