PRP Injection Specialist

What is a PRP injection?

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections can help you with painful and disabling musculoskeletal conditions even when other treatments have failed. The platelets contain healing growth factors that, in this concentrated form, jump-start tissue repair and cell growth in the injured area.

The platelets and plasma in PRP come from a sample of your blood. Dr. Stavrakos draws 50-150 milliliters of blood (sometimes more) and places it into a centrifuge, which spins rapidly to separate the components.

After the centrifugation Dr. Stavrakos draws off the plasma and platelets he needs for your procedure and injects them into your damaged tissues.

How effective is a PRP injection?

PRP treatments are typically only as good as the kits that practitioners use to separate and concentrate the platelets. Many clinics choose their kits based on price rather than quality, but inevitably, you get what you pay for.

Heritage Regenerative Medicine uses the XCELL PRP™ kit and delivery system from XL Medica, known for high platelet yields that typically produce excellent results.

What can PRP injections treat?

Dr. Stavrakos finds PRP injections can be of significant help in treating a wide variety of conditions, including but certainly not limited to:

• Lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow)
• Medial epicondylitis (golfer's elbow)
• Medial collateral ligament (MCL) knee injuries
• Ulnar collateral ligament elbow injuries
• Muscular pain and spasms
• Spinal arthritiss
• Rotator cuff injuries
• Chondromalacia (cartilage softening)
• Meniscal tears
• Arthritis

Dr. Stavrakos himself has benefited from PRP injections to his knees, right hip, low back, and pelvis, enabling him to maintain an active, athletic life.

What happens when I have a PRP injection?

As described above, the process involves Dr. Stavrakos drawing your blood, processing the blood into PRP, and then injecting it into your body. However, there's much more to having a PRP injection when you're a patient at Heritage Regenerative Medicine.

To begin with, Dr. Stavrakos provides patients with advice on how to maximize their treatment success before their procedure. This could involve lifestyle choices such as a healthy diet and regular exercise, and the medications and supplements you should take or avoid.

Dr. Stavrakos can also incorporate other treatments with your PRP injection, such as Prolozone™ ozone joint therapy, neural prolotherapy, and hyaluronic acid injections. These additional treatments work with PRP to produce even better healing effects.

To find out how PRP injections could help with your musculoskeletal pain, call Heritage Regenerative Medicine today or book an appointment online.

Sports Medicine Clinic & Wellness Center located in the greater Charlotte, NC area