As any competitive athlete can tell you, suffering from a sport related injury can be quite an earth shattering tragedy. Most of us deal with injuries at some point in our lives, but to those competing or preparing for competition in any sport, it becomes more than just a minor hindrance. Regardless of the magnitude of the injury, sports injuries can not only impede your progress, but can even take you out of your sport all together, crushing the athlete’s dreams. How do I know this you ask? A few years ago I was diagnosed with what is known as “golfer’s elbow”, basically an overused tendon within the inner elbow causing severe pain even to lift a small 5 pound dumbbell. As a competitive bodybuilder preparing for the all-natural Mr. California title, this was heartbreaking. I found myself losing everything that I had trained so hard for and it didn’t take long for deep depression to set in as I watched my physique drop from a rock hard 200+ pounds to a staggering 175. I stood by in agony as the Mr. California title slipped away from me, but I wasn’t going to give up just yet.
Hours upon hours of research led me to try several different approaches to attempt to fix my injury. I started with a lot of the more commonly known “cures”, acupuncture, sports rehabilitation centers, cortisone shots, and of course the bucket loads of ibuprofen 800 that my doctor would prescribe me to alleviate the pain. Nothing worked, after months and months all that would happen was a temporary masking of the pain, but never a solution to the root cause of my problem. I was starting to lose hope, until one day I got a recommendation from a friend that made me raise an eyebrow. The suggestion came from his trainer, something called Platelet Rich Plasma, something I’ve never heard before. Admittedly, I was skeptical. After all, I had tried so many things and was hesitant to get my hopes up only to get disappointed again. However, realizing that not only had I lost 38 lbs. of hard earned muscle, but my depression was just spiraling out of control, I decided to give it one last try.
I walked into my first appointment, anxious and nervous about the whole situation. Was this really going to work? Or was I walking into my next disappointment. I had done my research before going in, and despite my skepticism, what I understood about the process made sense. The doctor explained the procedure as such: PRP is done through a series of injections within the specific area of an injury. Your blood is drawn in preparation for the procedure, and it’s then put into a centrifuge machine that will separate your growth cells from your blood. Those growth cells are then re-injected into the injured area. Because the body is able to recognize its own growth cells, it reacts quickly and begins the process of healing. In the absence of PRP therapy, the body attempts to heal an injury on its own, however, it can only do so much before it stops. PRP therapy restarts the body’s healing mechanisms essentially. I went forward with the treatment and to my honest surprise, the results were almost immediate. After two sessions of PRP therapy, my pain was almost completely gone and I was able to return to the gym at almost full capacity within weeks. For any athlete, this is truly miraculous! Being able to walk into a weight room and pick up a set of weights with no pain was genuinely one of the happiest days of my life, all thanks to this fairly new procedure!
PRP Therapy is an option for many athletes and non-athletes alike, helping rehabilitate numerous types of injuries. For those of your suffering from pain due to injuries or accidents, consider further researching PRP Therapy before pursuing surgery or other more invasive routes. It’s safe, and natural (considering you’re using your body’s own cells), and will definitely take out recovery time that you would need should you have surgery. I can honestly say that I would not be putting this out there if it didn’t mean this much to me, and anything that can help an injured bodybuilder get back in the gym pain free is definitely worth a second glance! It worked for me, it can work for you too!
