Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) injections – a beginner’s guide

Hello everyone… welcome to my blog!

For my very first post, I want to tell you about one of my favorite pain management treatments. For years, I’ve used standard therapies to treat joint pain.  This typically involves physical therapy & rest, and if this is not enough, then steroid injections or even pain medications.  While these treatments are often effective, I’ve long wished for a therapy that goes beyond just managing joint pain… one that targets the root cause directly, without requiring surgery.  That’s when I really began to explore Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) therapy.

​What I tell my patients about PRP:

When a patient comes to me with a chronic injury, I like to use a simple analogy.  Think of your body as a construction site.  When a worker gets hurt, a crew of first responders rushes in to help. In your body, those first responders are your platelets.

​You probably know that your platelets’ most important job is to stop you from bleeding by forming clots.  But did you know they have another important job too?  They’re like the foreman of the construction crew, carrying a toolbox full of tiny, powerful messengers called growth factors. When you get injured, the platelets flood the area and release these growth factors, signaling the rest of your body to start rebuilding tissue, reducing inflammation, and ultimately repairing the construction site.

​In a healthy body, this process works beautifully.  But with chronic injuries, like tendonitis or arthritis, the body sometimes gets stuck.  The healing signals are weak, and the construction site remains broken.

​PRP is our way of giving that “foreman” a megaphone.

​How we create your body’s super-charged healing serum:

​The process of creating PRP is surprisingly simple.  It feels a lot like getting a routine blood draw.

First, I draw a small amount of blood, usually from your arm.  Next, I place that blood into a special machine called a centrifuge.  For a few minutes, the centrifuge spins the blood at a high speed, separating it into different layers (I use the double-spin technique, which takes a little longer than the single-spin… more on that later).  The red blood cells fall to the bottom, while a golden-colored liquid—your plasma—rises to the top.  In between those two layers is the magic: a thin, white layer of highly concentrated platelets.

​That’s our PRP.  It’s a small, powerful dose of your own natural healing medicine, now super-concentrated and ready to work.  I then carefully extract this PRP and prepare it for injection directly into your painful joint.

In my next blog posts, I’ll share more about PRP—how it works, who it’s right for, what to expect during treatment, etc.  In the meantime, feel free to call me if you have any questions.  Until next time!

-Dr. D.