i wondered if anyone on the foot and ankle/knee thread has tried PRP. Its being offered for foot and ankle arthritis at Duke and I suppose other hospitals. I have one very bad ankle and now arthritis in the other foot. I tried cortisone injection which reduced the pain some but not enough. My right ankle has been useless for years after a fal and fracture of my Talus. I’m gessing all these yrs. of depending on my left foot for mounting , walking, standing has just worn it out. Great now I can’t walk w/o pain but I did ride yesterday (with drugs) my good gaited mare as I could never post again. My foot killed afterwards just from the stirrup!
I was hoping someone had knowledge of PRP. I know they do it to horses.
No, but I know they called me always in donation drives, when I was donating for many years, because my blood was very rich in some “blood factors”, platelets one of them and they used it for that more than for straight transfusions.
I wish you good luck finding some way to be able to walk without pain.:yes:
I have. I was in a car accident that caused major tendon damage and tendonitis in my left elbow (from holding the steering wheel). After a year of therapy, and cortisone injections I had surgery. After that I has physical therapy again, and received another round of cortisone. As that point my Dr recommended the PRP injection. After the injections I had another 2 weeks of soreness then then finally had that turning point and I’ve been at about 90% ever since (which is what was expected).
In other words, it is definitely worth trying it. It is not painful like the cortisone, and it worked.
1 Like
Walkers–Which ortho at Duke did your PRP??? I’m hoping to talk them into doing my elbow but so far I’m not getting anywhere. I go back on Monday and I’m going to poke harder. I’m PMing you also.
I didn’t have it but it’s being used on patients (equine 
) here quite a bit and my experience has been rather unexciting thus far. I personally have done very well using leeches for a nasty epicondylitis that didn’t leave with rest, physio or therapeutic x-rays (a lot of those). Have been fine for 3 yrs now 
I have had quite a lot of PRP for SI instability and hyper-extended ligaments. It has made it possible to ride and do most things over the last 10 years. I’m happy to talk with you, too. There are more things that can be done now, too.
Dr. Friedlis is one of the greats in the field, knows the research work of many of the others. His website has lots of educational info on regenerative procedures.
http://www.treatingpain.com/medstaff/mayofriedlis_MD.html
I didn’t have PRP done, but I did have prolotherapy. If you want details, PM me. I wish I had known more about it before I had it done, because my experience was not a good one.
Just an update, the Duke doc who does PRP is Blake Boggess in Sports Med. I have to wait from my hand/wrist tendon surgery to heal before they can deal with my elbow, but late summer/early fall, we’ll tackle my elbow problems and I’ll report back.
1 Like
I’ve had it in bursea, a joint and in the plantar fascia. The bursa injections have been the most amazing for me (even after failed steroid injections. It was helpful in the joint and I don’t know yet the long term of the PF.
One thing to know is there are different prp “types” within prp. Mainly there is “bloody prp” (most common) where blood cells remain in the plasma (Many of them lysed/broken open) which requires and inflammatory response to clean them up (especially counter productive in a joint). More recently “super concentrated plasma” or “stem cell plasma” has become available which removes all red and white cells from the plasma (which also concentrates the other portion further). Alternatively, some practices are not using a “kit”, but are drawing blood, spinning it down and drawing the serum off the top and calling it prp. The kits require 30-60cc to produce 3-4 cc of prp while spinning requires about 10cc of blood to make 3-4cc of prp. Also note that ACP (autologous conditioned plasma) and prp are theoretically identical, but just use different trade mark names.
As another side note, the horses we see seem to have a profound anti inflammatory effect from SCP PRP used in joints. Therorectically, the bloody prp would be best when trying to initiate the inflammatory cascade, while the other best suited as an antiinflammatory.
PRP treatments are used for orthopedic joint injuries, such as tendon and ligament tears and ruptures, cartilage tears and wear, sprains and strains as well as an adjunct treatment after orthopedic surgery. At the Ortho-Regenerative Institute, PRP is used alone or in conjunction with other non-invasive techniques to provide the most optimal treatment plan for each patient.
See more at: http://www.orthoregeneration.com/prp-therapy/
My dad had prp in his knee, it actually made the pain worse. I had it done at a Specialty vet practice for a dog with elbow dysplasia/osteoarthritis and was not impressed with the results.
I’m about to try Radiofrequency Nerve Ablation for my own knee pain- injections no longer work. Is that something you might consider? I’ve heard of it for knee, back and shoulder pain.
My husband had PRP in his ankle after years of arthritis, a couple bad sprains, cartilage roughening, etc. 3 ortho specialists gave 3 differing opinions. All recommended surgeries we don’t want to try just yet: replacement, fusion, and one other I can’t really describe. So he did the PRP and it made the pain worse. The injections directly into the bones around the ankle were so painful my husband came out of the Dr.'s office soaked in sweat and shaking. Pain meds and icing are not allowed as it would negate the procedure - per the Dr. He was in terrible pain for 3 days straight before it started to subside and go back to the normal, awful pain he had before the procedure. Total waste of time and $10k, that insurance wouldn’t cover. I told my doubts before the procedure, but he was desperate for pain relief without the long recovery time as he is a very active man. Maybe it would work for recent injury, tendon tears, etc. Can’t understand how it would help arthritis as that is a chronic, long term issue…
reported the spam even though it was on topic and actually appears to be informational.
1 Like
Along those ines has anyone used the human equivalent of adequan or Pentason? The only place I have seen pentason use in humans has to do with cystitis as it makes things `slippery’. Wondering as I have an hip that has been a little helped by oral supplements. Why are they so much more advanced for horses, (rhetorical I know costs liability etc)
1 Like
Some doctors are using HA in joints other than the knee. It’s often not covered by insurance, though. It may help if your hip issue is arthritis, but it’s unlikely to help if you have a compromised labrum.
I’ve not seen any use of IM or IV joint therapeutics.
I have had PRP, HA and Cortisone injected into my ankle to help with symptoms of end-stage arthritis.
Let me start by saying none of the injections feel great the first three days post injection, many doctors want you to rest and relax in this time frame.
I absolutely love the results I receive with the steroid injections. The pain/inflammation reduction and mobility I was able to get back was outstanding. But there are risks and so I started looking for other solutions which led me to HA then eventually PRP.
HA is good, I can get some mobility back in the joint, but I still have pain for a couple of weeks before HA takes full effect, it isn’t instant like cortisone nor does it take the pain completely away. It seems to last a little longer than the cortisone injections which is a benefit but I am still being injected every 3-4 months.
I have just started PRP I have had one injection and my first impression is mixed. The good is I had zero pain in the joint which is amazing but I lost almost all the mobility I had in the joint prior to injection (doctors are not sure why waiting on diagnostics to see if it is disease progression, bone chip, spur or something of the sort). The hardest part was sitting still for the two-week recovery and then gradually back to full activity over the next four weeks (this was prescribed by the clinic on research I have seen differing opinions but when you are paying that kind of money I figured I better listen to the instructions). When you have an injection schedule every twelve weeks losing six to recovery is a lot. Because of the loss of mobility, we decided to alternate HA with PRP injections and see if we can get better results that way.
No, i haven’t tried PRP therapy for recovery of any injury but I do get PRP Therapy for the restoration of my natural hair and for strengthening my hair. I had amazing results with the help of PRP therapy and I hope you also have desirable results.
