Imagine dealing with a condition like osteoarthritis or carpal tunnel syndrome. How likely would it be for your doctor to recommend surgery as the first treatment option? Not very. Surgery tends to be a last resort for most doctors. Enter platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections.
Although PRP injections are still considered unconventional by plenty of doctors, the medical community has been slowly warming up to them in recent years. The gradual acceptance of PRP injections and other regenerative therapies is partly due to the success athletes have seen from utilizing them.
Over the years, we have seen professional baseball and football players elect to receive PRP and stem cell injections. PRP therapy has made its way into professional golf, tennis, basketball, hockey, and soccer. And as more pro athletes have embraced PRP therapy, more weekend warriors have done likewise.
PRP Injections for Yankees Slugger
One of the more recent examples of a professional athlete electing to undergo PRP therapy is New York Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton. Known for his explosive bat and raw power, the 35-year-old baseball player arrived at spring training complaining of pain in both of his elbows. An examination revealed tendonitis in the two joints.
Stanton did not participate in spring training activities. Instead, he received PRP injections in hopes of promoting natural healing. He was set to receive a second rout of injections just before the Yankees opened the 2025 regular season in late March. As of this writing, Stanton remains on the 10-Day Injured List.
When asked why he didn’t have surgery during the offseason, Stanton did not offer an answer. Even more interesting was the fact that he did not report his pain to the team until just before spring training got underway. Nonetheless, Stanton is determined to play this year. He wants to play even if he needs to deal with pain. Should he elect to undergo surgery instead, it is almost guaranteed he will miss the entire season.
Surgery Doesn’t Always Work
One of the things professional athletes need to be concerned about in relation to surgery is the fact that surgery doesn’t always work. Baseball pitchers are especially susceptible. More than one pitcher has undergone unsuccessful Tommy John surgery only to have his career cut short as a result.
Fears relating to surgery sometimes lead pro athletes to try everything else first. For common musculoskeletal injuries, like the one Stanton is dealing with right now, regenerative therapies including PRP and stem cell injections are an option.
The Thinking Behind PRP Therapy
PRP therapy is classified as a regenerative medicine therapy intended to help the body naturally heal on its own. The experts at Lone Star Pain Medicine in Weatherford, TX explain that the therapy is an injection therapy utilizing blood provided by the patient.
Blood is drawn in the doctor’s office using a standard needle and procedure. It is then processed in a centrifuge to isolate platelets and growth factors. The resulting material is injected at the site of the injury. In Stanton’s case, this would mean injections into both elbows.
Both the platelets and growth factors signal an injury that needs attention. The body’s own healing system kicks in to deal with it. Meanwhile, the growth factors contribute to generating healthier tissue to replace that which is lost or damaged.
Lone Star says that PRP injections do not work for everybody. They also aren’t appropriate for every kind of injury. But the same can be said for any sports injury treatment. We can say that PRP injections work well enough that pro athletes often prefer them over surgery.
