BIMC Hospital has been providing PRP to those suffering chronic or acute joint pain for the past year and with great success. The simple injection safely uses one’s own blood plasma and complements BIMC’s non-surgical physical therapy options. Head of CosMedics Dept., Dr. Ridwan, says the procedure has proven popular for a growing number of medical tourists and residents of Bali, many with complaining of chronic musculoskeletal issues from sports injuries.
PRP therapy has been used since the 1990s to aid bone healing after spinal injury and tissue recovery following plastic surgery, but only in recent years has it become popular for treatment of injuries such as tennis and golf elbow and knee problems caused by jogging and a variety of sports. Tiger Woods used PRP following knee surgery, AFL footballer Adam Cooney for degenerative knee problems and Los Angeles Dodgers’ pitcher Takashi Saito to treat an elbow injury.
But it’s not just recognized celebrity athletes who are taking advantage of PRP. The treatment is one of a growing number of therapies that enhance the body’s ability to heal itself which means many visitors to Bali, including the elderly, seek PRP consultation for a variety of complaints such as shoulder pain, hip and ankle strains and joint osteoarthritis.
How does it work? BIMC orthopedic doctors take a small quantity of a person’s blood and spin it down to golden-colored platelets and then take that and inject a person’s knee, as an example. PRP injections naturally activate growth factors and stem cell markers to help stimulate repair of the tissue, calm symptoms, and reduce inflammation.
PRP for Hair Loss
PRP has also gained recognition as a proactive therapeutic option for male and female patients experiencing hair loss by providing stimulation of hair growth for hair loss conditions. In recent years scientific research has provided the medical community with new understandings of tissue healing and as a result of these studies, PRP is seen as an all-natural “autologous” medical procedure performed routinely in a physician’s office for scalp, skin, and hair stimulation.
