From athletes to musicians, anyone who performs the same motions over and over again is susceptible to an overuse injury. These injuries are inconvenient and can keep you from engaging in your passions or carrying out your day-to-day activities.
Stopping repetitive activity, gentle exercises, and time are the primary treatments for an overuse injury. But when these conservative measures fail to bring results, you may wonder what else.
At LiveWell Pain Management in Elmwood Park, New Jersey, our experienced physical medicine and interventional pain management physician, Dr. Nora Taha, takes an integrative approach, using a combination of therapies to heal injuries and relieve pain.
We know all too well the toll long-standing overuse injuries take on your life and offer platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections to speed up the healing process.
Here, we talk about overuse injuries and how PRP can help.
Athletes know that to get better at their sport they need to practice. While this is true, repeating the same motion over and over again may have the opposite effect.
Engaging in repetitive activities that use the same muscles, joints, tendons, or ligaments stresses these body parts. Over time, the continued use may lead to tissue damage that causes pain and stiffness.
Though overuse injuries occur in athletes who perform the same motion, like tennis players, pitchers, and skiers, anyone who engages in repetitive activities can develop these types of injuries. If your job (butcher, carpenter) or hobby (gardener, painter) requires repetitive motions, you may develop an overuse injury.
Tennis elbow, golfer’s elbow, and tendonitis are examples of overuse injuries and are common causes of elbow pain and shoulder pain.
Your body has the power to heal itself. You see this all the time when you have a cut. Platelets play a major role in this healing process. When these tiny blood cells cluster together to stop cuts from bleeding, they release specialized proteins and growth factors that repair your damaged tissue.
PRP harnesses your body’s natural healing powers. Made from a sample of your own blood, PRP is the liquid (plasma) portion of your blood with extra platelets — platelet-rich plasma. Supplying your injury with a high concentration of these healing elements supports your body’s natural regenerative abilities.
When medical interventions fail to heal your overuse injury and surgery isn’t an option, we may turn to regenerative medicine treatments like PRP. We create the PRP from a sample of your blood and then inject it directly into your injured tissue.
Though the goal is to accelerate healing with PRP, the process isn’t immediate. In fact, you may experience an increase in pain and inflammation following the injection. However, these symptoms are signs that your body is trying to heal itself and resolve within a few weeks.
Results vary, but you may experience improvements in your injury several weeks after your PRP treatment. We may combine your PRP treatment with other therapies or repeat the injection.
When all else fails, PRP may help you finally get the relief you need from your long-standing overuse injury.
Are you looking for help with your ongoing pain problem? Call our office today or request an appointment online to set up a consultation with Dr. Taha.
