NY Giants Defensive Tackle Chris Canty reportedly received a PRP injection to his injured Hamstring to accelerate healing. It’s great to see that more athletes are getting access to this emerging therapy. Hopefully the PRP is utilizing the latest technology including ultrasound guidance to ensure proper needle location, otherwise the procedure will be ineffective. By looking into the body, we are able to spot tears and place the platelets within a millimeter of the injury. Also there are various manufacturers of PRP which can affect the concentrations of the growth factors that are being delivered. For example some PRP disposable devises increase the concentration from 2x baseline to 10x. Currently it is believed that the greater the concentration the better.
New injuries have a greater ability to heal faster since there is a natural healing response occuring from the trauma opposed to chronic injuries that have scarred and need to “wake up.” However chronic injuries do well with PRP therapy, only the time frame is extended because we are starting the recovery process from scratch.
