PRFM Joint Support
PRFM Joint and Tendon Injections
As part of the body’s capacity to heal itself, platelets and other components in human blood migrate to a site of injury. Platelets are known to release a variety of factors that respond to tissue injury, where they initiate and promote healing. By concentrating platelets at the site of injury, physicians have the potential to enhance the body’s natural capacity for healing.
Tendon Injuries
Tendons are tough, thick bands of tissue that connect muscle to bone. They are usually slow to heal after injury. Doctors have used PRP injections to treat chronic tendon problems, such as tennis elbow, Achilles tendonitis at the ankle, and jumper’s knee, or pain in the patellar tendon in the knee.
Acute Injuries
Doctors have used PRP injections to treat acute sports injuries, such as pulled hamstring muscles or knee sprains.
Post Surgical Repair
Sometimes doctors use PRP injections after surgery to repair a torn tendon (such as a rotator cuff tendon in the shoulder) or ligaments (such as the anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL).
Osteoarthritis
Doctors have injected PRP into the knees of people with osteoarthritis. A 2015 study found that PRP injections were more effective than hyaluronic acid injections (a traditional therapy) for treating osteoarthritis.
Here is a quick and simple breakdown of the PRP procedure
- With Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) or PRFM treatments, your blood is drawn as if you were taking a blood test.
- We then take your blood and spin it in a centrifuge.
- Blood platelets contain growth and healing factors. When concentrated through simple centrifuging, your blood plasma becomes rich in healing factors, thus the name Platelet Rich Plasma.
- The PRP is transformed into PRFM using a special technique.
- The PRFM then is injected into the injured areas of the body, such as the knee, shoulder, ankle, wrist, or elbow.
- PRFM injections are sometimes performed in a series, but many patients only require one injection to see results.
The advantage of using PRFM over PRP is that this technology binds the platelets into a gel matrix, and extends the time the platelet-activating factors are released to 6-8 days (PRP is only 8 hours). This allows for more prolonged recruitment of local stem cells and fibroblasts, which should produce a more profound effect at the injection site.
Unlike medications or cortisone injections, which suppress or mask the underlying problem, PRFM shows the potential to heal.
