Healthcare has come a long way. From actions made just based on instincts, patient care has now taken in new technologies and innovations, based on thorough research, in the aim to improve the quality of care being provided. One of which is the use of platelet rich plasma for acute muscle injury.
Addressing acute muscle injury
Acute muscle injury is considered as one of the most common injuries that often result in loss of training and competition time, and is very common amongst athletes. Though sports medicine practitioners tried several approaches to hasten time to recovery from muscle injury, best management for muscle injury has not been identified.
Current mode of management usually includes rest, ice, compression and elevation especially in the early stage following injury. Furthermore, other management techniques involve the use of anti-inflammatory medications (pain killers), rehabilitation exercise programs, electrotherapeutic modalities, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and prolotherapy injections.
What is PRP?
In recent times, there has been a growing interest which is focused on autologous blood product injection. The reason behind using platelet rich plasma is the belief that the additional growth factors released by platelets would enhance the natural healing process. However, there are still debates and arguments regarding the clinical efficacy.
Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) is plasma with many more platelets than what is naturally found in blood. The concentration of platelets as well as the concentration of growth factors can be 5 to 10 times greater than usual.
For one to develop a PRP preparation, blood must first be drawn from a patient. The platelets are then separated from other blood cells and their concentration is increased during a process called centrifugation. Then the increased concentration of platelets is combined with the remaining blood.
Laboratory studies have shown that the increased concentration of growth factors in PRP can possibly haste up the healing process
To speed healing, the injury site is treated with the PRP preparation and can be done in one of two ways:
- PRP can be carefully injected into the injured area.
- PRP may also be used to improve healing after surgery for some injuries.
Studies about the efficacy of PRP in treating acute muscle injury
Currently, there are (though limited) studies which study the effects of PRP therapy for muscle injury. For example, in three in vivo laboratory studies and one pilot human study appraised, the laboratory studies reported histological evidence on significant acceleration of muscle healing in animals treated with autologous conditioned serum (ACS), platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and platelet rich fibrin matrix (PRFM), while a pilot human study found athletes treated with repeated ACS injection recover significantly faster than retrospective controls.
There are also a number of in vivo laboratory studies which suggest beneficial effects of ACS, PRP and PRFM in accelerating muscle recovery. With valuable information from robust human controlled trials currently not available, more studies of satisfactory methodological quality with platelet-rich plasma interventions on muscle injury are justified.
Factors affecting efficacy
The results of the studies being conducted are inconclusive because the effectiveness of PRP therapy can vary. Factors which may affect the efficacy of PRP treatment include the following:
- The area of the body being treated
- The overall health of the patient
- Whether the injury is acute (such as from a fall) or chronic (an injury developing over time)
