By Dr. Tanuj P Palvia, MD and Dr. Rudy Gehrman, DC
Platelet-rich plasma therapy (PRP) and hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) are both treatments used to enhance healing. What happens if you combine PRP therapy with HBOT?
At Physio Logic in NYC, we offer both therapies concurrently to enhance the fundamentals of natural healing. HBOT significantly increases regenerative factors (e.g., stem cells, growth factors, cytokines, platelets, oxygen) available for damaged tissues, while injected PRP attracts and delivers these stem cells to injured areas. The combined synergy yields a situation that optimizes repair of an injured area decreases healing time and enables a quicker return to activity.
In short, the combination of the two together can create a powerful synergistic effect. Think of PRP as a scientifically enhanced biologic super-glue with regenerative properties, and HBOT as a technique to heal the wound faster and stronger on a cellular level….really amazing!
Let’s go over each more in-depth.
What is PRP Therapy?
Regenerative Medicine explores the body’s natural ability to heal itself. When you suffer an injury, whether it’s a broken bone, small cut, or even a torn ligament: the body self-sufficiently recruits cells in the bloodstream called platelets and growth factors to begin healing at the injured tissue site.
However, some areas in our body don’t receive an adequate amount of blood flow – a situation known as avascularity. These avascular sites include tendons, ligaments, discs, joints, and cartilage. Therefore, if any of these get injured, or damaged, healing is not only very difficult; refractory injuries can sometimes necessitate complicated and painful surgeries for repair.
There is a possibly alternative however, Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) therapy is a non-surgical treatment that obtains platelets from the patient’s own blood to:
- Improve cell growth
- Decrease inflammation
- Stimulate the regeneration of damaged tissues and bone
After a simple blood draw, with Regenexx technology, we can now concentrate those platelets up to 20X concentration of platelets, a preparation is known as Super-Concentrated PRP (SCP). With this higher dose, injected under ultrasound and/or fluoroscopic imaging guidance for best accuracy, we can elicit a much more powerful and rapid healing response at the exact site of injury. The result is a more efficient, thorough, and rapid restoration of that damaged tissue.
And by enhancing this natural healing process, PRP/SCP therapy has slowly become a powerful alternative to surgery. There is no use of drugs or chemicals. This material is organically derived and 100% safe. Side effects after PRP therapy are also very rare. The majority of our patients at Physio Logic in NYC quickly return to their normal activities after the procedure.
What can PRP treat?
- Joint pain resulting from inflammation after an acute injury
- Chronic Degenerative Joint Disease
- Ligament and muscle injuries
- Tendonitis, e.g. tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow
- Early partial tendon tears
- Many more degenerative diseases and sports injuries
What is HBOT?
Commonly referred to as HBOT for short, let’s go over what hyperbaric oxygen therapy is. Using 100% oxygen, under increased pressure, a hyperbaric chamber super-saturates the blood plasma and cerebral, spinal and other fluids with oxygen to levels 1,200% greater than can be achieved under normal conditions, leading to several advantages:
- Increased oxygen to the body’s tissues up to 25 times the normal amount, thereby reversing hypoxia
- Strengthened immune system
- New blood vessel growth
- Increased production of stem cells
- Increased wound healing and damaged tissue
- Reduction of inflammation, swelling, and edema
- Anti-microbial/microbiome balancing
- Increased energy and reduces fatigue
- Reversal of traumatic and ischemic brain and nerve injuries
- Optimized wound healing
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy can be found in the most prominent university hospitals’ Wound Care Centers to treat chronic and non-healing wounds via the above principles. HBOT is effective for treating conditions such as radiation injuries, skin grafts/flaps, infections, burns, crush injuries, and diabetic-related wounds. For the purpose of regenerative medicine, HBOT can be taken advantage of as it greatly raises the amount of stem cells in circulation. This, in combination with PRP’s ability to target those stem cells to the injured areas in your body, is thought to further empower and expedite the body’s ability to repair and regenerate damaged areas using its own mechanisms!
PRP Therapy and HBOT in NYC
Are you suffering from injuries, or chronic illnesses causing harm and pain to your body? We urge you to try our PRP and HBOT treatments at Physio Logic in NYC.
When you combine PRP Treatment with HBOT, your body will feel healing like never before. Hear the difference HBOT alone has made for one of our patients:
“HBOT gives me a chance to not only relax but also enhance my recovery at the same time. My endurance and recovery were accelerated and I felt like I was more resilient to future stressors. I routinely meditate and HBOT allows me to hit two birds with one stone. It’s safe and painless, you can even do computer work or answer phone calls during it!”
Jonathan V.
All of these procedures can help you, but they’re best when done in conjunction with Physical Therapy and/or Chiropractic Care to give you the best “shot” at living pain-free!
If you’re interested in learning more about how combining PRP Treatment and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy can help you, give us a call to schedule your first session. You can also fill out the form below.