There has been a lot of buzz recently in the medical world about healing with a patient’s own blood – called Platelet Rich Plasma therapy or PRP. PRP therapy is a process in which doctors take a sampling of a patient’s blood and place it into a special tube.  This tube is put into a centrifuge and spun down. During this spinning process, the plasma is separated from the blood. After being removed from the tube, the plasma platelets are either sprayed onto an incision area if it is used during surgery or used as an injection for injured muscles.

This type of therapy is now being used to promote tissue healing in tendon injuries, to slow the development of osteoarthritis and aid in wound healing. One of the most recent celebrity athletes to try PRP injections is Tiger Woods. After having surgery on his injured knee last year, his play hasn’t been in tip top shape since. It makes sense that a world class player like Woods would go to extreme lengths to get his game back in shape.This type of injection is legal in the sports world but it still remains to be seen whether or not the injection in Woods’ knee will get him playing like the golfer he was before the injury.

Tiger Woods

Even though PRP is a new procedure, it is quickly gaining attention. and seems to hold a lot of promise for patient healing It has been approved for use in surgery by the FDA but has a long way to go before being accepted as a true healing method in the orthopedic world.