An injury or condition that affects your spine, other bones, or joints can sideline you indefinitely without proper treatment. You may have experienced such a situation and gone through many different forms of treatment. If you haven’t received the relief that you’ve been looking for, it’s time to consider the best therapy through the best platelet rich plasma Miami can offer.
What is PRP?
Your blood contains platelets, which are small parts of blood cells that with a treasure trove of help for many types of spine and orthopedic conditions that don’t respond to other treatments. The treasure lies in the tissue growth factors that are abundant in platelets – platelet-rich plasma, or PRP.
An injury to your body activates platelets to move to the injury and to discharge the growth factors, which jump-start healing. You can get platelets from your own blood, and they can be concentrated and then injected to the site of the problem or injury. This is an option for healing that can speed up and revitalize the curing process.
This causes the formulation of new collagen and tissue. The final outcome is tissue that is harder than it was before, better operation of the tissue, and less pain. For you, the patient, this means an overall sense of improved well-being and health.
Why is PRP Used for Orthopedic and Spine Conditions?
You may be skeptical, at first, of the idea that PRP treatments can work for you. However, there has been a significant amount of research that has shown that PRP is, indeed, safe and effective. In fact, PRP has been demonstrated to be a viable option for the treatment of spine and orthopedic conditions.
If you’re experienced injuries or conditions, such as plantar fasciitis, arthritic joints, tennis elbow, degenerative discs, rotator cuff tears, sciatica, or other spinal or orthopedic conditions, you may be a good candidate for PRP. In the case of arthritis, you may find that your condition’s progression is halted in its tracks.
You definitely wouldn’t be the first to experience PRP injections for improved pain relief and health. Many professional athletes have received PRP for injuries, and they have been able to successfully heal. Some of these include Rafael Nadal, Tiger Woods, and Kobe Bryant.
It’s Easy to Do!
Don’t worry about not being able to get back to work when you receive PRP therapy. It’s a pretty simple process. We can do it in the office, and we use ultrasound or x-rays to guide the process so that the injection gets to the right location.
First, we draw blood from you and separate your platelets from red blood cells in a centrifuge used just for this purpose. Then we concentrate the platelets so that they can be used in your treatment. The next step is to anesthetize the affected area of your body, and this is done before we do the injection.
You can avoid having to take a lot of time away from your work, hobbies, family, and friends with this procedure. It only takes a little under an hour! You can be in and out in a very short amount of time and resume your daily tasks while experiencing improved function and less pain from your injury or painful condition.
Work with the Best Physiatrist Miami Provides.
Your first visit with Dr. Alicia Carter will be a full orthopedic evaluation. You can typically schedule your appointment the same day or the next day, and there is usually not a lot of wait time. This is not a 15-minute office visit. Dr. Carter spends an entire hour with you to fully determine your specific condition. She wants to know how the injury or condition started, and she needs to understand why any other treatments you’ve tried haven’t given you the relief you need.
The office offers a same-day diagnosis with in-office diagnostic ultrasound and fluoroscopy (video x-ray).
Dr. Carter discusses your goals with you and makes sure that the PRP treatment is used in the best way to help your condition. She may recommend exercises and activity changes that are specific to your situation to further progress your healing and focuses on preventative health to decrease further injury or condition progression.
PRP is a treatment protocol that takes three injections in most doctors’ offices; however, most of Dr. Carter’s patients find they have improved after just one treatment session. Eighty to 85% of her PRP patients experience success in the treatment of their conditions, and some have full permanent healing.
Avoid going to practitioners who are not board-certified in Regenerative Medicine as the efficacy of their treatments is not likely to be as high as working with a board-certified physician like Dr. Carter.
Dr. Carter has more than 18 years of experience, and she is a very respected interventional spine and sports medicine specialist, also known as a physiatrist. She is the best physiatrist Miami offers, and you will be more than glad that you made a visit to her office.
She uses an FDA-cleared machine to make sure that your platelets are collected properly, and she does the whole procedure herself from beginning to end. She doesn’t use assistants to draw your blood or to concentrate the platelets. The sample may not work properly if it is not drawn in an antiseptic anticoagulated condition, or if it is not concentrated in the right way.
You may not benefit from PRP as much as you would from other treatments, and Dr. Carter wants to ensure that you get the best treatment available. Even if you have visited other physicians, it’s a smart move to schedule a time to meet with Dr. Carter for evaluation and another opinion. With her thorough understanding of your condition, she can offer a fresh perspective that you may not have considered for your condition.