For many years surgery remained the only resort to treat Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in athletes. For past 10-12 years we have treated partial ACL injuries in athletes using platelet-rich plasma (PRP) with very good results. This treatment involves injection of PRP which is prepared from patient's own blood and then injecting it in patient's knee. The whole process takes hardly 1 hour and is done on OPD basis.
What is PRP
PRP stands for platelet rich plasma. It is done by taking a small amount of the patient’s blood (around 10 ml) and then a specialized machine called centrifuge processes it. The components of blood are separated inside the centrifuge to produce high quality PRP. The platelets are extracted as they contain high concentrations of important healing compounds like growth factors, a type of protein that stimulates cellular repair in your body. After the extraction of platelets, those particular components are injected into the patient’s knee. Your body naturally produces plasma, which contains platelets.
Benefits of PRP treatment-
- It's completely natural process without adding anything from outside. Patient's own blood is used to prepare PRP.
- Day care procedure- The whole process takes less than 1 hour.
- Inexpensive
- Painless therapy
- Faster recovery time