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Treat Your Sports Injuries with PRP Therapy

Sports injuries can take time to heal, especially if you’ve torn a ligament or damaged a joint. If your injury doesn’t heal properly, you could be on the bench forever. That’s why it’s important to get the input of a San Francisco sports medicine doctor after any accident that could affect your performance. 

Treatments like physical therapy, anti-inflammatories, and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy can all speed up your healing and preserve your future. 

At The Institute for Arthroscopy & Sports Medicine in San Francisco, California, Dr. Jeffrey Halbrecht, orthopedic surgeon of San Francisco, and his experienced team provide the boost your body needs to start healing many common sports injuries with PRP injections.

An overview of PRP therapy 

Platelet-rich plasma, or PRP therapy, is a form of regenerative medicine. Our team starts with a blood draw from your arm, then harvests platelets from your blood using a centrifuge. Once the platelets and plasma are isolated, we can inject the resulting powerful, biologically customized substance back into your body. 

The PRP attracts growth factors to the site of the injury and helps your body regenerate damaged tissue. And because the platelets were taken from your own bloodstream, your body accepts them faster than synthetic or donor cells.

Targeted injections can deliver platelets directly to an injured joint, ligament, or muscle. Once there, they stimulate growth factors to begin repairing the damage. This boosts healing naturally, in some cases preventing the need for surgery. If you’ve already received surgery, PRP therapy can be used to speed up your recovery.

How to tell if it’s right for you

Only a sports medicine doctor can reliably deliver targeted PRP injections. They also have the experience and expertise needed to accurately diagnose your injury and determine whether you require surgery first. 

Dr. Halbrecht examines the details of your case and prepares a treatment plan that fits your needs. He recommends PRP therapy for patients with minor injuries, or those who have already undergone surgery. The injections can’t fix serious damage, but they can help your body heal faster. 

What to expect 

PRP injections are minimally invasive, which makes them a more conservative option than surgery. We numb the injection site beforehand to keep you comfortable, and we isolate the platelet-rich plasma using an in-office centrifuge, so you don’t have to wait long. 

Dr. Halbrecht, a sports medicine surgeon and doctor in San Francisco takes the solution and injects it directly into the site of the injury. PRP injections get to work quickly, providing you with symptom relief. You can also have repeated PRP injections, if needed, to deliver ongoing support as your body heals.

Interested in trying out PRP injections for yourself? Call IASM at 415-230-3667, or book an appointment online

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