The Los Angeles Times reported on Friday that Lakers All-Star center Dwight Howard will be flying back home to Los Angeles from Minneapolis to undergo a platelet rich plasma (PRP) treatment for his right shoulder injury. Dwight Howard aggravated his torn shoulder labrum Wednesday night during a game.

PRP consists of isolating platelets and growth factors from a patient's own blood in a blood draw like for a simple lab. These growth factors are then injected back to an injured area to accelerate the body's natural healing.  This non-surgical procedure has a short recovery time and can be as short as a 30 minute office visit. 

We are wishing Dwight Howard all the best and look forward to having him rejoin the LA Lakers soon.

In a new study from the American Journal of Sports Medicine, researchers in India were able to show that patients receiving platelet rich plasma (PRP) treatments had better alleviation of their pain compared to patients that received only saline (water). There was a mild deterioration of those improvements at 6 months. This level 1 randomized placebo controlled study showed that PRP injection for knee osteoarthritis is safe and effective.  The study also noted that patients with more mild degrees of cartilage damage did better than those with advanced arthritis.   It showed that the patient group that were treated with PRP had better results than did the patient group injected with saline only.