Understanding How PRP Works to Relieve Your Acute and Chronic Pain

When you’re hurting, the last thing you think about is what type of pain you have. All pain is indeed painful, but not all pain is the same, and understanding their differences is crucial to getting the help you need. 

In this blog, Dr. David Wu and our team at CurePain walk you through the basics of acute versus chronic pain and how platelet-rich therapy (PRP) is an option for both. 

Chronic vs. acute pain

There’s a big difference between acute and chronic pain. 

Acute pain usually comes on suddenly and stems from something specific, like an injury. The effects of acute pain resolve once your injury has healed, so you shouldn’t be in pain for longer than six months. 

Chronic pain, on the other hand, lasts longer (six months or more). The cause can be tricky to nail down or remain even after healing. The pain signals involved with chronic pain stay active in your nervous system for weeks, months, or even years. Some suffer from chronic pain even with no obvious injury or underlying damage. 

Living with chronic pain for too long can lead to tense muscles, limited mobility, lack of energy, changes in appetite, and even mental health issues. 

With acute and chronic pain being so different, it may seem strange that one treatment can address them both, but PRP is that versatile. Here’s a closer look. 

How PRP can help both types of pain

PRP is a revolutionary therapy that harnesses powerful growth and healing factors in your blood. Your blood is made up of red and white cells and platelets, all floating in a liquid plasma base. Platelets arrive on the scene of an injury and aid in blood clotting, cell regeneration, and damage repair. 

To get a concentrated PRP solution, we take a sample of your blood and use a centrifuge machine to separate it from the rest of your blood. Then, we inject PRP into your body’s painful, damaged areas to kick-start the healing process and encourage cell turnover. 

This makes PRP an effective option for acute and chronic pain. 

If you have acute pain, PRP speeds up your body’s ability to heal itself and goes a step further to reduce inflammation, which helps relieve pain quickly and improves mobility.

In the case of chronic pain, PRP reboots your body’s dormant healing process and relieves pain from the inside out. 

Because it’s so versatile, we can recommend PRP for multiple types of pain, including:

• Osteoarthritis
• Tendonitis
• Joint pain
• Back pain
• Neck pain
• Sciatica
• Tennis elbow
• Golfer’s elbow
• Achilles tendonitis
• Ligament or muscle strains

PRP is all-natural, so it also comes with almost no risk of side effects or allergic reactions. Many of our patients continue their original treatment plans and use PRP as a complementary therapy. 

If you’re ready to step away from pain, call our friendly staff at 424-232-8930 or book an appointment online at our Torrance, California, office today.