Last season Hines Ward and Troy Polamalu suffered from injuries that could have sidelined them from playing in crucial playoff games. Polamalu never missed a game and Ward was able to play in the Super Bowl because of a new and innovating treatment being used by not only those two, but also by a few MLB and Soccer players along with thousands of recreational athletes.
What is the treatment, you may ask? Steroids? A new exercise? Nope. This completely legal and cutting edge treatment option is called Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy.
This surprisingly straightforward option involves injecting portions of a patient’s blood directly into the injured area, which catalyzes the body’s instincts to repair muscle, bone and other tissue. As a bonus, the technique appears to help regenerate ligament and tendon fibers, which could shorten rehabilitation time and possibly obviate surgery.
“It’s a better option for problems that don’t have a great solution — it’s nonsurgical and uses the body’s own cells to help it heal,” said Dr. Allan Mishra, an assistant professor of orthopedics at Stanford University Medical Center and one of the primary researchers in the field. “I think it’s fair to say that platelet-rich plasma has the potential to revolutionize not just sports medicine but all of orthopedics. It needs a lot more study, but we are obligated to pursue this.”
Platelet-rich plasma, initially used over 20 years ago in the Dental community to enhance wound healing in cancer patients with jaw reconstruction, is derived by placing a small amount of the patient’s blood in a filtration system or centrifuge that rotates at high speed, separating red blood cells from the platelets that release proteins and other particles involved in the body’s self-healing process. A teaspoon or two of the remaining substance is then injected into the damaged area. The high concentration of platelets — from 3 to 10 times that of normal blood — often catalyzes the growth of new soft-tissue or bone cells. Because the substance is injected where blood would rarely go otherwise, it can deliver the healing instincts of platelets without triggering the clotting response for which platelets are typically known.
Experts said they had used the procedure as a first option before surgery. There is little chance for rejection or allergic reaction because the substance is autologous, meaning it comes from the patient’s own body; the injection carries far less chance for infection than an incision and leaves no scar, and it takes only about 20 minutes, with a considerably shorter recovery time than after surgery.
The possibilities of platelet-rich plasma are certainly apparent to the Steelers. Polamalu had the procedure for a strained calf after last year’s playoff game against the Chargers and, although the injury was not considered particularly serious, he returned healthy enough the next Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens to return an interception 40 yards for a touchdown in the AFC Championship Game.
The technique played its most glaring role with Ward, who left that Baltimore game in the first quarter with a sprain of the medial collateral ligament in his right knee. The next day, he was injected with a form of PRP therapy called autologous conditioned plasma, which features different proportions of platelets and other cells. Along with strenuous rehabilitation and hyperbaric oxygen therapy, Ward recovered enough to make two catches in the Super Bowl.
“I was next in line, the next guinea pig,” Ward said, referring to Polamalu’s experience with platelet-rich plasma. “I think it really helped me. The injury that I had was a severe injury, maybe a four- or six-week injury. In order for me to go out there and play in two weeks, I don’t think anyone with a grade-2 M.C.L. sprain gets back that fast.”
It is also speculated that Polamalu used PRP after this recent knee injury, from which he returned and got re-injured, but missed the majority of the season. It seems as if the NFL could benefit from the Steelers’ practices with PRP and you could see a severe decrease in time spent in rehab and amount of knee surgeries performed on football players, an area of great concern to the league.
The video below is from the 2009/2010 season and aired on ESPN during pregame discussions of Week 2.
Polamalu did return 4 weeks later, only to re-injure the knee after 5 weeks.
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