PRP Therapy in Palm Coast, FL

Platelet-rich plasma therapy takes a small amount of your own blood, concentrates the part involved in tissue repair, and places it precisely where the problem is. It’s a repair-directed approach rather than an anti-inflammatory one, and that distinction shapes both who it suits and what to expect from it.

What it treats

PRP is used here for joint and soft-tissue pain where the tissue’s own repair response is worth supporting:

The evidence is strongest for knee osteoarthritis and for stubborn tendon problems — the shoulder, hip, and elbow tissue that heals slowly because it receives little blood flow to begin with.

How it works

Platelets do more than clot. When tissue is injured, they release growth factors and signalling proteins that recruit repair cells, clear damaged material, and organize rebuilding. Tendons, ligaments, and cartilage have a poor blood supply, so comparatively few platelets ever arrive where they’d be useful — part of why those tissues are slow to recover.

PRP addresses that delivery problem. A sample of your blood is drawn and spun in a centrifuge, which separates it by density into red cells, white cells, plasma, and platelets. The platelet layer is concentrated and recombined with a small volume of plasma, producing a preparation several times richer in platelets than circulating blood, and that concentrate is injected into the target.

Dr. Manuel López, a board-certified pain management and rehabilitation physician, places the injection under image guidance, so the concentrate reaches the joint space or the specific segment of tendon that’s the problem. What follows is biological rather than mechanical: the concentrated growth factors may support the body’s own repair processes in that tissue. It does not regrow worn cartilage, and Dr. López won’t tell you it does.

What to expect

This is an outpatient procedure, done in a single visit.

• Before: blood is drawn from your arm much as it would be for routine lab work, then processed while you wait.
• During: the skin over the target is cleaned and numbed, and the concentrate is injected under imaging. Most patients describe pressure and fullness in the joint.
• After: soreness and a temporary increase in ache at the site are expected — that’s the inflammatory phase of repair, not a setback. Dr. López will give you specific instructions for the days that follow.

Improvement builds gradually, and some patients are advised that more than one treatment makes sense based on how the first behaves.

Is it right for you?

PRP earns consideration when:

• The problem is degenerative or slow-healing rather than acutely torn through
• Joint or tendon pain has persisted despite rest, therapy, and conventional injections
• You want something aimed at repair rather than at suppressing inflammation
• Your own blood is in good enough condition to do the work the treatment depends on

That last point is not a formality. A complete tear needing surgical repair belongs with a surgeon, and Dr. López will say so. Blood disorders, infection, anemia, cancer treatment, and medications affecting platelet function get reviewed first, because this treatment has no active ingredient beyond what your blood supplies.

Talk through whether PRP fits your problem

A treatment aimed at repair is worth understanding accurately before you decide about it — including where it’s well supported and where it isn’t.

Call (386) 222-7746 or request an appointment.