PLATELET RICH PLASMA THERAPY

This past Wednesday I had the injection. What is it? PRP is a relatively new therapy for repairing connective tissue in the body. The blood is drawn from the patient; put in a centrifuge and all but the platelets and plasma are separated out. This is what is injected into the wound. It is supposed to promote quicker healing of the damaged area.

In my case, I have had an inflamed tendon for about one and half years. It resulted originally from playing tennis. I knew that something happened when it happened. But I kept on playing. The next morning my ankle hurt like a sprain or maybe it felt like I jammed it.

So, I quit playing tennis but kept on playing golf. If you are a golfer, you know that golf puts a lot strain on the left side; in particular the knee and the ankle. I am such a dummy. If I had just taken a month off from every activity, maybe all this would have been unnecessary. We will never know however.

A year and a half later, I still am not playing tennis and cannot walk the golf course anymore; I have to ride. Even then, after playing my ankle hurts.

I have been reading about the PRP therapy and it seems to get good results. However, it only seems to be done in CA and FL for the most part. It was hard to find a Dr. in this area who does it. The orthopod that I was seeing for my ankle said it was too experimental and they don’t do it. I think maybe they just aren’t on the leading edge of medicine.

I did hear about a Podiatric group here in Richmond that is doing it. Made the appointment and yes, I was a candidate. The tendon was inflamed in several places and PRP might help. There are no guarantees. And guess what, my insurance company will cover the process! How about that! I guess my orthopod needs to catch up if even the insurance companies are covering the process! I will be on crutches for “two to four weeks”. Holy Cow Batman; that is going to be hard to do. But, sometimes the pain is worth the gain so let’s do it is my attitude.

They do this in the outpatient operating room. I had mine at Johnston Willis Hospital. Everyone there was professional and personable. Just a great experience.

If you want the gory details here they are. First I was given three or four numbing shots in my lower leg above the ankle. That hurt quite a bit. Simultaneously blood was taken from my arm. Then about 20 minutes later I was wheeled into the operating room. The Doc came in with the platelet rich plasma and started giving me the shots. Normally, it is one injection. However they had done ultrasound in the office the day before and had determined that I had about a 6 to 8 inch area of inflamed tendon. This time he gave me about 4 injections of the PRP. Each time he stuck me, he would wiggle the needle and moving it about to get the stuff all over. On about the second or third shot, it hurt and hurt a lot. Then he gave me more numbing stuff. So the last couple shots didn’t hurt but I was expecting it to. Thus my body was a stiff as a board waiting on the pain to come from each shot.

Finally it was over. Really only took about 20 minutes although it seemed longer.

Now it is Friday and I go back for followup visit Monday. I hope to get the wrapping off and get instructions as to physical therapy, activity etc. I don’t expect to be playing golf again until January; tennis a little later. Walking I would hope would come sooner rather than later.

I will put out a report after the visit Monday.