Often Effective After Only ONE Injection

Platelet injections therapy is now used to treat a variety of musculoskeletal injuries. The process involves separating your body’s own natural healing cells, the platelets, from a sample of your blood via centrifugation, and then combining the increased concentration of platelets with the remaining blood and injecting them back into the body at the injury site. This induces a naturally occurring healing response.

Platelets are kind of like a group of construction workers. When a tear or cut in tissue occurs, the platelets work to create a scaffold, bringing those tissues back together and creating collagen and scar tissue to heal the torn and damaged tissue. Additionally, they release a variety of growth factors and anti-inflammatory cytokines to help induce this healing response and fix the painful problem.

Unlike traditional anti-inflammatory medications, which merely mask the symptoms, platelet injections offers the opportunity for real healing to occur and problems to be fixed.

What types of conditions are being treated successfully with platelet injections?

Tendon, ligament and joint injuries are the most common conditions that are being successfully treated with platelet injections, particularly tennis elbow, plantar fasciitis, knee osteoarthritis (mild or moderate) and rotator cuff tears. Additionally, there is evidence to support platelet injections’s use in back pain caused by a torn disc. At CSO, we have successfully treated patients with shoulder, neck and back pain with platelet injections.

“With platelet injections, my neck pain went from level 8 or 9 down to 2 within three days after my platelet injections injection.”
—Glenn McKnight, platelet injections Patient

CSO Patient Stories

Is platelet injections Effective?

Research regarding platelet injections’s effectiveness shows a wide variety of findings. Factors that influence its effectiveness include:

  • A patient’s overall health
  • The area of the body being treated
  • The quality of the injection
  • And placement of the injection at the exact place of injury

At the Center for Spine & Orthopedics, our board-certified specialists with more than 30 years of experience administer platelet injections very precisely using image guidance with an ultrasound or, in the case of disc pain, with fluoroscopy to ensure that the platelet injections gets to the exact site of injury.

Typically, only one platelet injections injection is necessary to be effective. Occasionally, booster shots are required, often depending on whether you re-injure your tissue. It is kind of like fixing a flat tire on your bike. You may be able to fix it and ride another 5,000 miles or you might run over another nail and need another repair.

Generally, it can take up to six or eight weeks to know how effective a single platelet injections injection has been. The length of time varies depending how quickly an individual heals.

Our specialists recommend platelet injections as an option when discussing nearly any musculoskeletal pain complaint with their patients, particularly when traditional treatment options have failed or are otherwise not indicated.