The Monday immediately following the last regular season NFL game is known as ‘black Monday’ thanks to so many losing teams cutting their coaches on that day. But for plenty of players whose teams were not fortunate enough to make the playoffs, black Monday represents the start of something else: platelet-rich plasma (PRP) season.
PRP treatments have been utilized in pro football for more than a decade. And in fact, pro athletes from just about every major sport have embraced PRP and other regenerative therapies. They prefer regenerative medicine over more invasive surgeries because it tends to encourage more thorough healing and get them back into competition more quickly.
More About PRP Therapy
LoneStarPainMedicine.com, based in Weatherford, TX, offers PRP injections for soft tissue injuries and other conditions. The injections are safe and effective when utilized properly. But exactly what do they do?
PRP injections use blood drawn from the patient being treated. The blood is processed in a highly specialized centrifuge in order to isolate platelets and growth factors. Those platelets and growth factors are then injected at the site of the patient’s injury.
The injected material signals to the body the need for repair. As the body responds to that signal, the platelets and growth factors provide the raw materials necessary to get started. PRP injections could be thought of as similar to jump-starting a car. They provide the initial energy needed to turn the car over and get the engine and electrical system running again.
But Do They Really Work?
In the early days of regenerative medicine, there were plenty of skeptics more than willing to call it quackery. Some of those skeptics remain today, but the medical community has warmed up to regenerative therapies. More doctors than ever before now support the idea of PRP injections to treat soft tissue injuries.
As for research data, it is quite favorable. For example, consider a 2020 study looking specifically at NFL players dealing with acute hamstring injuries. The researchers looked at player injuries from 2009 to 2018. Players were studied based on treatments received alongside missed days, practices, and games.
In a nutshell, the players treated with PRP injections returned to competition one game sooner than those receiving other non-invasive treatments. The comparison is that non-invasive treatments were necessary because invasive surgeries can take months to recover from. They are on a whole different plane.
There have been other studies looking at PRP therapy as a treatment for sprained muscles, torn ligaments, and other soft tissue injuries. So far, the study data indicates that PRP injections work as advertised. Of course, they do not work for everyone. But no treatment does.
The ‘Not Approved’ Question
It’s clear that pro athletes are not afraid to try PRP injections as a way to avoid more invasive procedures and return to competition more quickly. But what about your average man or woman on the street? Unfortunately, people who would benefit from PRP injections are often fearful of them because they have been convinced the injections are not approved by the FDA.
This myth is born of the fact that medical providers have not conducted FDA-sanctioned studies and submitted them to the government for review and approval. Here is the secret: they do not have to. The FDA has already approved injection therapies using minimally manipulated autologous material.
PRP injections, when done properly, fall within current FDA regulatory guidelines. That makes them approved by default. And for the pro football player looking to get back into competition more quickly, PRP injections are definitely worth considering.