PRP Therapy: A Game-Changing Treatment for Sports Injuries

When you’re an athlete, injuries are part of life — and how you manage them matters. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy is a revolutionary method that stimulates healing for faster recovery, and it could help you get back in the game faster.

Sports injuries are an inevitable part of being an athlete. Whether you're a runner or a ball player, the risk of injury is always present — and sometimes, traditional treatments aren’t enough to get you back in the game quickly.

The RICE method (rest, ice, compression, and elevation), physical therapy, and other go-to methods have their place, but there’s a new treatment gaining momentum in sports medicine: platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy.

Adam Redlich, MD, Adam Thompson, DO, and our team at A+ Athlete Sports Medicine in Neptune and Robbinsville, New Jersey, specialize in PRP therapy for sports injuries. Therapy has the potential to accelerate healing and promote tissue repair, and it could be a good option for you. Here’s how it works.

The basics of PRP therapy

Platelets are natural elements in your blood that promote blood clotting and wound healing. They’re made from proteins and growth factors that stimulate tissue repair, and PRP therapy involves using a highly concentrated solution of platelets to heal musculoskeletal injuries faster.

To start, we extract a small sample of your own blood and put it in a centrifuge to separate the platelets from other blood components. Once the platelets are concentrated, we inject the solution (platelet-rich plasma) directly into the injured area.

The goal of PRP therapy is to deliver a high concentration of growth factors and other healing components to the site of your injury, stimulating your body's natural healing process and accelerating tissue regeneration.

Your body absorbs the PRP solution and goes to work healing. You may begin to notice an improvement in your symptoms over the next few weeks and months. Depending on your situation, we may recommend a series of PRP therapy sessions to maximize your results.

Why PRP therapy is a game-changer for sports medicine

PRP therapy is a unique approach because it harnesses your body's natural ability to heal itself — without the need for synthetic drugs or more invasive procedures. Because PRP is derived from your blood, the risk of rejection or adverse reactions is minimal, making it a safe and effective treatment option for many people.

It’s a flexible therapy for a variety of injuries

Sports injuries can be tough to treat, and musculoskeletal damage is often slow to heal. PRP therapy has shown promising results for many of the most common sports injuries, including:

PRP therapy is highly customizable, and our team partners with you to find a treatment plan that fits your needs. How effective PRP therapy is can vary depending on the severity and type of injury, your overall health, and your individual response to treatment, so we adjust your plan as needed.

It supports active recovery

Many traditional injury management approaches involve prolonged rest and inactivity, which can come with pitfalls for athletes. By promoting faster healing and tissue repair, PRP therapy can shorten your recovery times and minimize your risk of muscle atrophy, joint stiffness, and other complications that can arise from prolonged immobilization.

It’s an alternative to surgical procedures

For any sports enthusiast, the ability to recover quickly from injuries is crucial to maintaining peak performance and preventing long-term damage. Depending on the severity of your injury, PRP therapy could offer an alternative to invasive surgery. Stimulating healing from the inside can help you avoid or delay surgery, helping you get back in the game faster and with a reduced risk of complications.

Are you dealing with a sports injury? PRP therapy is revolutionizing the way we approach injury and recovery — and it’s time to find out more. Schedule a consultation at A+ Athlete Sports Medicine today to get started.