Tiger woods held a press conference a the Augusta Masters today to address concerns of his medical treatment among other issues that have been circling in the media. Tiger clarified that he has never used performance enhancing drugs (PED’s). However Tiger did confirm that he received 4 injections of PRP Platelet Rich Plasma to his knee ligament (LCL) following a slow post operative recovery from ACL repair. Woods also received treatment for his Achilles tendon which he tore & adversely affected his driving distance . He claims that the treatments were successful & he feels strong.
While Tiger Woods has been surrounded by disappointments of his family & fans of infidelity, it appears that he has not violated any medical laws or restrictions in sport. PRP has been used to treat many athletes & even more weekend warriors. We are conducting several studies including a 10 multi center clinical trial on tennis elbow as well as a pilot knee arthritis study that was submitted for publication.
So hopefully the bright side of all this media frenzy will be the attention placed on an emerging therapy PRP. In no way is this a panacea but it appears a safe alternative to cortisone. More studies will emerge soon, some pro and some con to best determine which patients and injuries will be proper candidates for PRP.
