At any given time, 31 million Americans suffer from low back pain. According to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, an estimated 75 to 85 percent of all Americans will experience some form of back pain during their lives.
While pain medication and opioids have been a solution for individuals suffering from lower back pain, opioids can be harmful, habit forming, potentially fatal, and aren’t natural.
Orthopedic Surgeon and Spine Specialist Dr. Michael Moheimani has a solution for back pain with a natural non surgical approach to medicine through platelet rich plasma injections to the spine, reducing the need for invasive surgery, the need for opioid use, and avoiding potential misuse.
Platelet rich plasma comes from your own blood. Although blood is mainly a liquid, it also contains small solid components such as red and white blood cells, and platelets. The platelets are best known for clotting blood, they also contain hundreds of proteins called growth factors which are important in the healing of torn or degenerated tissue.
To develop PRP, blood must first be drawn from a patient. The platelets are separated from other blood cells, and their concentration is increased during a process called centrifugation. The increased concentration of platelets is then injected during the same office visit to the spine under x-ray guidance.
We have seen doctors use PRP for beauty needs such as vampire facials, repairing hair loss, healing arthritic joints such as knees or tennis elbow and for torn ligaments and tendons. Dr. Moheimani is injecting this magical cocktail of platelets to the spine, allowing the damaged and torn discs to regenerate with the body’s own healing ability, reducing lower back pain.
