Body pain is very discomforting and affects daily life activities. Various types of body pain, such as knee, joint, and shoulder pain, have many treatment options for recovery and injury management. Some patients were treated with physical therapy, and some with PRP therapy. Your doctor will determine the best treatment for you based on your specific health condition. Here, we explore some differences between PRP and physical therapy in this blog. It helps to decide which is best suited for pain management.
What is PRP?
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections are an innovative treatment to quickly relieve pain and are considered the best therapy for pain management. It contains certain hormones that are obtained from their own blood cells. It reduces swelling, inflammation, and pain.
What is physical therapy?
Physical therapy is the most common traditional treatment to manage pain-related symptoms. It is a long-term treatment that requires exercises. It improves muscle strength, flexibility, and mobility, and restores body functions. This therapy depends upon the patient’s health conditions, age, and severity. It relieves pain, but it takes longer, and affects daily lifestyle.
Why PRP is the best option over physical therapy
PRP is the best option to relieve pain for a wide range of conditions, which include fractures, arthritis, osteoporosis, sports injuries, strains, sprains, back and neck pain, shoulder pain, tendon, muscle, and ligament damage, wounds, tendonitis, and other pain-associated conditions. It is highly recommended by doctors because it is a short-term, non-invasive procedure. It is obtained from natural components, so it has no side effects. Whereas physical therapy is a long-term, invasive procedure for the treatment of pain. It has certain side effects. Physical therapy is performed in multiple ways, such as: Only exercise therapy (without any machine), Exercise along with Medicine, exercise along with devices, surgical procedure along with exercises and medicines. It is effective therapy for conditions such as sports injuries, chronic pain, and neuromuscular pain. Which technique is most suitable? Your doctor will guide you based on your conditions.
How to prepare PRP injections
PRP Injections for joint pain are prepared from the patient’s own blood cells. Blood cells are separated by a centrifugation machine, extracted from the blood components, and mixed with the plasma sample. Then PRP is injected into affected areas of the body. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) starts to stimulate certain hormones called growth factors and regenerate new cells, which help to reduce inflammation, pain, and swelling. That’s why it is worth considering an ideal therapy for pain management rather than physical therapy.
What are the benefits of PRP vs physical therapy?
- PRP injections have anti-inflammatory properties that regenerate from their own body cells, stimulate hormones to reduce pain and swelling, and promote the healing process. Whereas physical therapy itself has no anti-inflammatory properties, it is treated along with medicine or devices.
- PRP directly target damage tissues and regenerates new cells, whereas physical therapy restores the functions of muscles, strengthening and improving flexibility through exercises.
- PRP has the fastest healing process, usually takes 4-6 weeks to completely recover from the pain; it contains growth factors that stimulate the healing process. Physical therapy takes a longer time to completely recover from the pain, usually takes months to years.
- PRP injections are produced by a natural source; no medicine is needed. Physical therapy is produced by exercises, along with chemical sources or devices. Medicine is needed along with this therapy.
- PRP procedure is short term usually takes less than 60 minutes, whereas physical therapy takes long term procedure that usually requires multiple session takes weeks to months.
- No need for surgery in the PRP procedure. Sometimes surgery is needed before or after the physical therapy, it depends upon the patient’s conditions.
- PRP has no major side effects, risks, or allergic reactions because it is obtained from the patient’s own blood cells. Minor side effects occur at the time of injection, but they may disappear within a few days after treatment. Physical therapy has some side effects.
- PRP is the safest procedure than physical therapy.
- PRP is always compatible with patients; do not reject their body because it is obtained from their own body cells, whereas physical therapy has no compatible match.
What are the risks and side effects of PRP vs physical therapy?
PRP has no or mild side effects at the time of injections, such as pain, swelling, redness, bleeding, and infection. It may disappear in a few days. PRP treatment for neck pain is generally considered safe because it uses the patient’s own blood components to support healing. Physical therapy has multiple side effects, such as infection, surgical pain, allergic reactions, muscle dysfunction, medication, and the use of devices that have adverse effects on your body. It depends on which technique you use along with physical therapy. If it persists for a longer time, you may consult your doctor. It is treated as per the doctor’s guidelines.
