Platelet rich plasma and the 2012 Olympic Games

Aug. 13, 2012 - PRLog -- Dara Torres, 45, missed making it to her sixth Olympic Games, coming in fourth in the 50-meter freestyle, on the last night of the Omaha swim trials in July 2012.  She finished in 24.82 seconds behind qualifiers Jessica Hardy (24.50) and Kara Lynn Joyce (24.73).

"Missing it by less than a tenth of a second is tough," she said.  "Going to the Olympic trials against girls half my age, it's OK. I mean, I'm used to winning but that wasn't the goal here.  The goal was trying to make it. I didn't quite do it but I'm really happy with how I did and I was able to hang in there."

One reason Torres, the 12-time Olympic medalist, was able to ‘hang in there’ is the incredible physical shape she is in.  And a contributing factor may also be the platelet rich plasma treatment and subsequent rehabilitation to repair and regenerate damaged cartilage in her knee, she underwent.  After a 16-month long recovery and training for Olympic qualifiers, Torres only needed to finish in the top two in Omaha in order to make it to London.  Without the platelet rich plasma treatment, however, Torres may have never had the chance to make a sixth U.S. Olympic team.

Although Torres did not make it to the Olympics, Kobe Bryant and David Payne did, and they have both, like Torres, undergone a regenerative medicine procedure to maintain peak performance.

Kobe Bryant, one of the top players in the NBA, competed with the USA Men’s Basketball team.  Team USA beat Spain for the gold, winning 107 to 100.  Bryant went to Germany in the summer of 2011 and received Orthokine, a procedure that involves a healing activator used in platelet-rich plasma therapy or PRP, for injuries he sustained to his right knee.  The Orthokine procedure was developed by Dr. Peter Wehling in Germany.  While PRP is approved for use in the U.S., Orthokine therapy is not believed to be approved in either this country or Canada.

David Payne is an American hurdler also competed in the 2012 Summer Games in the men’s 110m hurdles, but did not make it to the finals.  In 2008, Payne captured a silver medal in the 110 m hurdles during the Beijing Olympics. While training for Olympic trials in 2011, Payne suffered a minor shin injury and resorted to intense physical therapy to help alleviate the pain.  Since these injuries can typically take months to heal, Payne decided to take further action and receive platelet rich plasma treatments to promote healing in the shin area.  He reaped the benefits of the therapy and earned top five finishes in all 2011 meets.  

Regenerative medicine techniques, such as platelet-rich plasma and stem cell technology, have been used for an extended period by many athletes.  Both procedures are growing in popularity among professional athletes, as well as “weekend warriors” and others suffering with chronic musculoskeletal injuries.  

Dennis Lox, M.D., a Tampa Bay-area physical, sports and regenerative medicine specialist, points out that the ability to achieve rapid healing in an athlete is one of the courses of sports medicine treatment.  

“Controlling the early phases of inflammation and improving rehabilitation time is paramount,” said Dr. Lox.  “With chronic injuries, if one can use a regenerative technique that will not require invasive surgery – which would ultimately lead to more long-term degeneration – that is looked upon as a more desirable outcome, not only from an athletic standpoint but also from the layman’s prospective.”  

Dr. Lox notes that the increasing frequency of new studies of regenerative medicine stem cell technologies will lead to more discoveries in the future and ultimately to better outcomes for a variety of disease processes.


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