Meniscus Tear – Treatment with PRP Therapy for Prevention of Knee Degeneration
Sometimes a forceful twist of the knee especially when there is a load on the knee can result in tearing of the knee cartilage that is present in the knee as a cushion between the tibia and femur. After the tear, a person may feel intense pain along with the joint, swelling, inability to stretch the leg, and stiffness.
While mild tears can recover on their own within 4-6 weeks with adequate rest, moderate to severe tears require non-surgical therapy to surgical repairs to treat the tear. Unless treated on time, these tears can cause pain, stiffness, and difficulty in moving the joints for years.
However, not every meniscus tear needs to be treated with a surgical approach. PRP therapy is now increasingly used to treat tears as a standalone treatment and in case of severe tears, as an adjunctive treatment along with surgery.
If you are a medical professional and looking to buy PRP tubes with gel, you must get them from the right source to ensure that the gel tubes are medically certified to be used for the treatment of patients in your clinic. One of the most reliable sources of obtaining high-quality PRP tubes is Dr. Renat Akhmerov’s Plasmolifting Technologies. They have the best PRP tubes in the industry and all their tubes are certified as class IIa medical devices.
PRP therapy for meniscus repair
- It is a painless and relatively safe procedure done on an outpatient basis.
- Your blood is drawn and collected in a tube which is then placed in the centrifugal apparatus to obtain autologous plasma.
- The plasma-rich cells are then injected carefully at the site of injury using ultrasound or fluoroscopic guidance for needle maneuvering.
- A small bandage will be applied at the site of injection. The procedure does not require any sutures because of the non-invasive nature of this procedure.
- Most of the injuries can be treated in one single session; some more severe or complex injuries might require multiple injections at your subsequent visits.
- The plasma-rich cells must be injected at the site of the injury directly and not anywhere else in the joint space.
- Bathing the injured tissue with PRP mixture is the key to healing in this procedure and thus, must be accomplished by someone who has the precision, knowledge, and experience.
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Meniscus repair through surgeries always carries a risk of developing arthritis in the future. This is especially if only the damaged meniscus is removed in case of partial meniscectomy because it can cause unequal weight distribution. However, when there is extensive damage to the meniscus and surrounding tissues, surgical removal becomes a necessity. Recovery after a total meniscectomy can take anywhere from 1-2 months.
If you do not see any improvement from your physical therapy sessions after a meniscus tear, you should give PRP therapy a try because it is much more potent and also reduces the risk of developing arthritis in the future. It can also help you in avoiding arthroscopic surgery especially in cases of partial tears which could lead to progressive degeneration of the tissues of the knee.