PRP: An Effective Therapy for Foot and Ankle Pain
Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees made a spectacular catch on June 6 but at a cost to his big toe. Perhaps you witnessed him crash into a fence and jam his right big toe against the concrete. Fortunately, the team captain didn’t fracture the toe but did suffer a contusion (bruise) and a sprained ligament. The treatment of choice, worthy of a major league baseball player, is also available to our patients here at Clifton Foot & Ankle Center. It’s called Platelet-Rich Plasma therapy (PRP).
Platelets promote healing
The platelets in human blood are rich in proteins that aid the healing process. So, if you’ve got a cut, a bruise, or a sprain like Aaron Judge’s, good blood flow to the injured area lets platelets heal. If platelets are good, more platelets must be better – which is the medical idea behind platelet-rich plasma therapy.
PRP is a proven technique that encourages new tissue growth, helping your body heal faster. Dr. Kenneth R. Wilhelm, our board-certified podiatrist, may opt to use platelet-rich plasma therapy to treat podiatric conditions such as tendonitis, arthritis, torn ligaments, and plantar fasciitis. Additionally, we may use PRP to ease pain before or after surgery. The effects of PRP may help you avoid surgery altogether.
Here’s how it works
We remove a small amount of your blood and separate the platelets from the plasma – the liquid portion of blood – using a spinning device called a centrifuge. Next, we infuse the plasma with a greater concentration of platelets. Finally, we fill a syringe with platelet-rich plasma and carefully inject it directly into the injured area. Depending on the nature of your injury or chronic pain, you may need as few as two or as many as six injections over several weeks. We perform the entire process at our Fairfax County podiatry office. PRP injections are safe, minimally invasive, and relatively painless. We’d be happy to discuss how PRP therapy can help you with your foot or ankle. For a consultation with Dr. Wilhelm, call us in Centreville, Virginia, at (703) 996-3000 or schedule an appointment online.
