PRP injections
/ Courtesy: NBC News
Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant and A-Rod are just a few of the elite athletes who have helped pup PRP injections on the map. But there's concern this treatment for sports injuries is being marketed without enough medical proof in some cases.
Todd Catlette, of Florida, doesn't play tennis but was suffering from tennis elbow. "I got to the point where I couldn't lift the orange juice out of the refrigerator. I couldn't shake hands with people because the pain was excruciating," Catlette said.
After several conventional treatments failed, Dr. David Westerdahl, a sport medicine specialist at the Cleveland Clinic Florida, suggested PRP injections. "It's something where we started using here at Cleveland Clinic after looking at it carefully, looking at some of the science behind it making sure it was safe for patient use," Dr. Westerdahl said.
Three years ago, PRP made headlines when it helped Hines Ward play in the Super Bowl after a knee injury. At that time, Dr. Alan Lazar was one of only a few doctors doing this. A patient's blood is drawn, then a high speed spinning process helps separate the components. Plasma with concentrated platelets is injected into the injured site. "The platelets have growth factors within them, Those growth factors can then help stimulate a local healing response when injected back into damaged tissue," said Dr. Westerdahl.
Catlette is one of the success stories. The pain actually intensifies at first, and it can take months to feel the full effect. "It was probably about 6 weeks and then at that point I felt nothing had happened. My arm was back to normal," Catlette said.
Dr. Westerdahl says he's had mixed results, and it doesn't work for everyone. There have been studies that have shown benefit for tennis elbow there have been studies that have shown that consistently as well as studies that show it may not work for other areas like rotator cuff related injuries," Dr. Westerdahl said.
Cleveland Clinic is tracking their results. As for Catlette, he says his elbow is back to 100 percent. "I can shake hands without wincing in pain," he said.
Medicare does not cover the cost which is about $750 per injection. Only about 30 percent of insurance companies will pay for PRP.
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Information courtesy of NBC News.
