Platelet Rich Plasma

Is PRP Really as Good as MFat for Knee OA?

Two recent studies were published that seemed to show that platelet-rich plasma was as good as a common adipose tissue treatment to treat knee arthritis. However, anytime a study produces a result that goes against what we see clinically, it’s worth digging a bit into how they did the study. Both of these have some…read more

The Morality Test of Platelet-Rich Plasma vs Corticosteroids

IMHO corticosteroid use in knee arthritis has become a giant medical morality test. We know the stuff is toxic, but physicians can’t help themselves from injecting it because it’s covered by insurance companies. Now that PRP is here and known to be effective, this sets up an interesting duality as there is now a better…read more

PRP Injections for Knee ACL Tears: A Few Sandwiches Short of a Picnic

When I was in medical school I had a British girlfriend who used to use the very English expression, “A few sandwiches short of a picnic”. That saying immediately came to mind as I reviewed a new study published by orthopedic surgeons in the middle east as they compared ACL surgery to PRP injection. It…read more

PRP vs BMC for Ligament Healing

I love writing about what I experience on a day-to-day basis. A patient recently wrote to me claiming that a prolotherapy physician had told him that PRP injections were clearly superior to Bone Marrow Concentrate for helping ligaments heal. Hence, I figured it was time for a formal deep dive to help patients understand the…read more

Is There Objective Evidence that PRP Helps Tendons Heal? Concentration and Age Matter

This has been an interesting few months in the world of PRP research. We’ve seen a few studies that purport to show that PRP doesn’t work, after dozens of similar studies that showed it was effective. While it turns out that the studies that seemed to show that PRP was ineffective never used actual PRP…read more

Bone Marrow Concentrate and PRP: Is Keeling et al Just More Carefully Selected Misinformation?

I’ve written many times that we have an academic orthobiologics problem. There’s also a problem with orthobiologics and orthopedic surgeons. I’ll explore this today through a recent review article published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine that concluded that Bone Marrow Concentrate was no better than PRP, but seems to have carefully selected research…read more

The Academic Low Dose PRP Knee OA Problem Is Alive and Well-The Lewis Et al JBJS Paper

Academics are hopelessly behind the modern practice of orthobiologics. While there are all sorts of reasons for this, the problem is that it continuously shows up in the literature. This morning we’ll cover a new knee arthritis “PRP” study and review an older one that both made the mistake of not actually using PRP. Let’s…read more

PRP for Epicondylitis: When Simple Won’t Cut It

We’re now seeing more and more orthopedic surgery offices adding platelet-rich plasma, which is great. However, at the same time, this now presents a new dilemma for patients. Why? Most of the PRP injections being offered in that setting are simple procedures that often miss the mark. Let’s use an elbow epicondylitis example today of…read more