After a horrendous start to the 2022 NFL season, the Denver
Broncos are looking for answers to their offensive woes. The man in charge of
it all, Russell Wilson the Broncos quarterback has a partially torn latissimus
dorsi in his throwing shoulder from the Thursday night game against the
Indianapolis Colts. To treat this injury Russell used his autonomy and a private jet to fly all the way back to Los Angeles to receive a medical treatment called protein-rich plasma injection commonly
known as PRP on his throwing shoulder.
PRP is performed by taking a patient’s blood, spinning it to separate
in a centrifuge, and aliquoting the portion of the plasma that is high in
platelets. These platelets are condensed into a plasma that is then injected
into an area in need of healing. The belief is the injection helps encourage the
body to heal the area of concern faster than it would normally do so. In
Russell’s case that was his throwing shoulder. PRP can also be used on post-surgical
sites, as a hair growth treatment, muscle strains, and teeth removal to name a
few procedures. When targeting a specific area, the injection can be guided by ultrasound
to ensure the plasma reaches the correct location.
The science behind these injections is that by introducing high
concentrations of these platelets they will perform their natural function but
at a greater rate. The platelets start to release their bioactive molecules
that are involved in the body’s natural healing process. These released natural
anabolic growth factors are believed to accelerate the healing process. It will
not turn a patient into the Wolverine but in theory, it should reduce the
recovery time. Therefore, it is an attractive treatment for athletes that is minimally
invasive with few side effects considering it is their own blood.
There is some controversy on how effective PRP truly helps the healing
process as there are many ways the plasma can be prepared. For hair restoration,
we would spin the blood and take the high-density platelet portion by
eyeballing it. For surgery, they can get an even higher concentration with more
volume of blood and specialized lab equipment. Some treatments have the
presence or absence of many factors including white blood cells, exogenous
thrombin, and calcium chloride. These all play important functions in the effectiveness
of the injection. As well as each person’s blood has different ranges of
platelets and other blood factors. The bottom line is there are a lot of ways
to prepare a patient’s blood before injecting it. This makes it hard to compare
healing time and effectiveness as no two injuries are the same
After starting this blog, it was reported that Russell had a
hamstring injury as well following the lost to the Los Angeles Chargers. It
will be interesting to see if he chooses to get PRP done on his legs as well. One
thing PRP cannot cure is losing. The Broncos lost to the Los Angeles Chargers
the following week in overtime. Making the Broncos fall to 2-4 on the season and in
desperate need of a cure for losing.
Arnoczky, S. P., &
Sheibani-Rad, S. (2013). The basic science of platelet-rich plasma (PRP): what
clinicians need to know. Sports medicine and arthroscopy review, 21(4), 180–185. https://doi.org/10.1097/JSA.0b013e3182999712
Hospital for special surgery.
“Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) Injection: How It Works: HSS.” Hospital for Special
Surgery, https://www.hss.edu/condition-list_prp-injections.asp.
Setayesh, K., Villarreal, A.,
Gottschalk, A., Tokish, J. M., & Choate, W. S. (2018). Treatment of Muscle
Injuries with Platelet-Rich Plasma: a Review of the Literature. Current reviews in musculoskeletal medicine, 11(4), 635–642. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12178-018-9526-8
Syed, U., Shridharani, S.M.
(2021). Controversies in PRP. In: Sadick, N.S. (eds) Platelet-Rich Plasma in
Dermatologic Practice. Springer, Cham.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66230-1_9
I liked your article and the way you tied it into the broncos. I have first-hand experience with platelet-rich-plasma (PRP) treatments, last fall I tore my plantar fascia, and this was one of the few options my doctors told me to do. From what I had experienced my doctors explained it to me as a tier system. First is a glucose injection with accelerated healing for injuries, by pro-inflammatory cytokines (Ban 2020). It increases swelling in a certain area and this tells your body that you need to send nutrients and blood to that area to heal it (ban 2020). The next tier is PRP which is infused platelets that encourage your body to heal that area by using your own protein. The next tier was stem cells, all of these things do similar things, but just at different levels. In my opinion, I think PRP will be continued to be used and become more popular. It is a quicker recovery time than surgery for common sports injuries. From my experience, I had major success with my injury and I have recommended this treatment to many of my other teammates.
ReplyDeleteBan, E., Jeong, S., Park, M., Kwon, H., Park, J., Song, E. J., & Kim, A. (2020). Accelerated wound healing in diabetic mice by miRNA-497 and its anti-inflammatory activity. Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy = Biomedecine & pharmacotherapie, 121, 109613. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2019.109613