Say No to Back Pain - Part 2

Health

Say No to Back Pain – Part 2

A better way for the body to heal

Story by Bill Bowman

Injuries happen in every sport…even golf (just ask Tiger Woods). After the injury comes the treatment and then usually a long, drawn out recovery process.

It seems that there’s nothing to do during the recovery but let nature take its course.

Or is there? What if we told you there was a better way for the body to heal. And a quicker way. A way that’s not only safe but also promotes better healing.

Welcome to the new world of PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma). PRP isn’t a drug. It is an advanced form of regenerative therapy for ligaments and tissue in the joints and the back. Whether it’s golf, tennis elbow or any number of other injuries, help—and a quicker healing process—is here.

“Anyone suffering with any type of joint pain doesn’t have to live that way when there’s a non-surgical and non-drug alternative to change their lives,” says Dr. Israel Villasenor, the director of The Spine And Joint Institute.

In simple terms, a doctor uses the body’s own blood platelets that have been enriched. The platelets are injected into the troubled area (or areas) and then a laser treatment is added to increase blood and oxygen flow into the region.

“It gives the body a chance to heal and uses the new platelets to heal,” Villasenor says. Four tubes of blood are drawn (about the size of a standard hospital blood draw). That is then concentrated down to about a syringe of platelets that are then injected into the injured area. “We are literally removing the healing element of the blood (the platelets) and then injecting the platelets into the injured area,” Villasenor says. There are usually four-to-six injections in the process. Each injection is about two weeks apart.

And why just platelets? “The platelets heal the body,” Villasenor says. “The platelets are what stop the bleeding when we cut ourselves and that starts the healing process. When the platelets come into contact with torn or injured tissue, the platelets break open and release their healing factors and that process is repeated over time.”

It not only promotes quicker and more sustained healing, it can also be an alternative to surgery.

The treatment, which was developed in Europe, is now used by sports team physicians as well as orthopedic surgeons to treat injured athletes, getting them back on the field and in action at a much higher rate than a typical healing process.

Intrigued? You should be. It’s definitely cutting edge and it’s definitely attracting attention.

If you’re looking for that miracle cure to make everything better after an injury, well, you’ll be waiting for a long, long time. But the PRP procedure, while not an overnight cure, will help you get back in the action in a much quicker—and healthier—timeframe.

“It’s a great new branch of medicine,” Villasenor says. “It’s regenerative medicine. Because it doesn’t utilize any drugs or surgery it’s really catching on. People don’t want surgery or joint replacement. They don’t want the down time. They want to get back to their lives as quickly as possible.”

Spine And Joint Institute

200 East Horizon Dr., Suite A, Henderson

702-568-8450

www.spinejointinstitute.com