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Sports Injury Treatment in Northeast PA
Shortening the Recovery Time After a Sports Injury
Playing sports can have a significant toll on your body. Broken bones, tendon tears, and overused muscles can sideline even the most physically fit athlete and can take months to heal. An athlete could be facing a long road to recovery if the injury is severe enough.
Many professional athletes are now turning to regenerative medicine to help speed up the healing process. Therapies such as platelet-rich plasma and stem cells are minimally invasive, safe to use, and have shown to be effective in healing sports injuries.
Sports Injuries: Acute vs. Chronic
Sports injuries can be broken down into two types – acute and chronic:
- When a sudden, traumatic event occurs such as a football player getting slammed into the ground by another player, you may experience an acute injury. Treatment for acute injuries involves R.I.C.E. – rest, ice, compression, and elevation. The symptoms of the trauma usually subside after a few weeks.
- Chronic injuries, however, last for a much more extended period. It can take months, even years, to fully recover from a chronic injury. Unlike an acute injury, which occurs after a sudden event, chronic injuries are often the result of a repeated overuse of the body part, such as tennis elbow or runner’s knee.
According to Practical Pain Management, chronic sports injuries outnumber acute injuries in almost every athletic activity. Since these injuries are not as disabling as an acute injury, many athletes choose to live with the pain than seek medical help.
PRP Therapy for Sports Injuries
Platelet-rich plasma therapy has the potential to treat many of the symptoms of both acute and chronic sports injuries. It is a minimally invasive treatment with little to no downtime. Research has shown that PRP therapy can help repair tissue, reducing the need for surgery and other painful medical procedures.
For example, a rotator cuff injury can take up to six months to regain a full range of motion, shoulder strength, and function. In some cases, surgery is required to fix the injured area which can sideline an athlete for almost a year. But research has shown that using PRP therapy on partial tears and inflammation in the rotator cuff has proved to be effective in cutting down the healing time and help alleviate symptoms.
Stem Cell Therapy for Chronic Injuries
Stem cell therapy has also shown beneficial in healing past injuries or arthritis, especially if you still suffer from chronic pain from damage to your ACL, MCL, or knee meniscus. By injecting adult stem cells into the affected area, it can potentially regenerate the damaged tissue. And like PRP, the therapy is minimally invasive and has little to no downtime.
These treatments can help you avoid risky surgery, relieve your pain, and have no known adverse effects on patients.
How Northeast Knee & Joint Institute Can Help!
At Northeast Knee & Joint Institute, we use the latest regenerative medicine techniques to help our patients return to a pain-free life. We will advise you what your best options are and will help you any way we can.
If you have a chronic or acute sports injury and want an alternative to physical therapy and surgery, Northeast Knee & Joint Institute may be able to help! Contact us today to schedule a risk-free, no-obligation consultation with our physician today! Medicare and most insurances accepted.