Has anyone had any experience with platelet rich plasma (PRP) injections? A doctor is recommending it for neck pain I’m having, but insurance doesn’t cover it and I’ve seen mixed reviews. Thanks.
I haven’t done it but people I know have done it and loved it. They were recommending it to everyone.
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Why do you have the neck pain?
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“Multilevel cervical spondylosis with multilevel foraminal and central canal stenosis most prominent at C5-C6.”
I think basically arthritis and a few bulging discs.
@groundhog74 PRP has been miraculous for my daughter. She set a record for PT at college for SI joint issues which did no good, and had to get an apartment close to school due to pain with walking. Honestly, years of PT.
Spaulding Rehab, part of the MGH system, recommended she try PRP. It literally worked overnight and lasted 5 years. She did light PT afterward but barely needed it.
A few years later, she did PRP for her knee. She had surgery on it at age 10 which tightened it vertically and I believe the PRP tightened it laterally- or vice-versa. Same deal, relief in 24 hours, still good several years later.
Her MD does a lot of studies hoping to get PRP insurance coverage and part of standard practice. My own ortho is training to do it.
Her MD required an MRI to rule out things. I may be wrong but I believe it helps soft tissue issues and tightens things up. My daughter was born with loose joints (subluxing) so is perfect for PRP.
I am not sure how it will work for spondylosis and stenosis which sounds like bone. (I have both as well.) It might help a lot with any muscle or tendon tightening that has resulted from your disc issues, stenosis/arthritis.
The syringe for PRP is large, at least for other joints. Maybe they use something smaller for neck. Let us know because I have the same issues 
Have you had any lidocaine injections? I had one today! We’ll see how long that lasts too!
My friend did PRP for her knee and didn’t see any improvement but I’m not sure the cause of her degeneration.
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I know people in the horse world who swear by it for horses. My husband has friends who have tried it with mixed results. From what my physical therapist has told me that he has seen most success if the injury is acute versus chronic.
Not for neck but I just did two hynovis gel injections in my knee. Cortisone injections were no longer working. I’ve got a torn meniscus that post clean out still bothers me and now arthritis that is at a point I qualify for a new knee. I’m trying to put off the knee replacement. I had to pay out of pocket $1500.00 as my insurance didn’t cover it.
I had trigger point injections but they didn’t help much. My shoulder muscle (trap?) Is a rock constantly.
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The interesting thing is that my doc cannot tell what is “trap” and what is neck. I was told today that trap muscles are all calcified- yeah a rock. My left arm is frequently much shorter than the right because the muscle spasm pulls. When my PT massages my trap, the left side of my face goes numb. Neuro thought my symptoms were from neck and did lidocaine of occipital nerve in neck which made my trap/shoulder/arm hurt horrible. It’s all connected!!
I had my first injection in trap this morning and arms were briefly the same length but the left is already shorter again You are making me wonder if I should look into PRP for trap!
Hope you get some relief!
It’s good to know the what before throwing needles in there. The official verbiage doesn’t say anything about disc protrusion, but that responds well to traction. The Saunders style units are the way to go. Usually the primary symptom is arm pain though. The interesting thing about PRP and prolotherapy too, is that barring infection, as I understand it, really the worst is that it doesn’t work.
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I had PRP injections in both knees two weeks ago done by the ortho who replaced my left hip last January (excellent outcome). Depending on how the cells “catch” and grow, the treatment may preclude surgery on my right knee. My left is more compromised, so we’re just kicking the can down the road on that one, which is fine by me as I’m just trying to avoid surgery/joint replacement as long as I can. I will get follow-up scans in six months to check progress and will try to remember to report back.
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The vertebral body heights are normal. The bone marrow signal
intensity is normal. There is intervertebral disc space narrowing most
prominent at C5-C6 and C6-C7. Small CSF T2 hyperintense focus is seen
adjacent to the central canal at the C7 level consistent small syrinx
measuring 3 mm. Otherwise the spinal cord signal intensity is normal.
No paravertebral soft tissue mildly
C2-3: Mild posterior disc bulge is present without central canal or
neural foraminal stenosis.
C3-4: Minimal posterior disc bulge is present with mild facet
arthropathy. No central canal stenosis. This slight left foraminal
narrowing.
C4-5: Mild posterior disc bulge is present with facet arthropathy
prominent on the left with left foraminal stenosis. No central canal
stenosis.
C5-6: Mild diffuse posterior disc bulge is present somewhat
lateralized to the right resulting in mild central canal stenosis and
mild right foraminal stenosis.
C6-7: Mild diffuse posterior disc bulge is present without central
canal stenosis. There is slight narrowing of the neural foramina
bilaterally.
C7-T1: No significant disc. No central canal or neural foraminal
stenosis.
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This is certainly not my area of expertise as a provider. I have too much experience with it as a patient though. It doesn’t look like you have any that are ruptured, hence the lack of arm pain. The the problem is figuring out what amongst all that is causing the pain. I’ve had three disc ruptures, two low, one high. Fortunately only one ultimately needed a discectomy. It’s a bag of snakes quelling local pain, because as you can tell from your report, there’s a lot of stuff that isn’t like it was when you were 20, but most of it is probably asymptomatic. hang in there and good luck!
Recently I read about PRP being used to treat androgenic alopecia in women, which is a condition that causes women to have hair thinning on the top and crown of their heads. This condition can cause severe emotional distress, so I was interested to hear about results. Doesn’t sound like it has been all that effective for musculoskeletal disorders, which I am sure is disappointing.
A friend just had 3 sessions of PRP to treat hair loss. She has noticed that she has less hair loss now and is happy with it. Her derm asked her to go back for recheck in 6 months.
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Thanks. I had a discectomy at L5-S1 around 15 years ago. Then I had numbness going down the leg. The surgery helped though.
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