Biologic Therapy

Biologic therapy involves regenerative medicine treatment methods that typically use biological products and substances such as platelets and growth factors from your own blood.

Common foot and ankle injuries such as Achilles tendonitis, plantar fasciitis, and arthritis can benefit from biologic injections. These injectables contain the same material and fluids that are found in your body and have been proven effective in the regeneration of new tissue that helps your body repair itself. They are injected into or around an injured or inflamed area of the foot or ankle to enhance healing and recovery. Biologic injections are used to relieve symptoms and to create actual healing, not just mask the pain. They may also reduce the need for medications or surgery.

The benefits of biologic therapy include:
  •  Pain relief
  •  Decrease and disperse inflammation
  •  Promote your body’s natural healing process
  •  Stimulate collagen production and cell regeneration

Barrett Podiatry offers state-of-the-art biologic therapies, products, and services, such as Amniox CLARIX FLO and PRP injections.

Amnio Therapy

Effective in treating soft tissue damage of the ankle and the foot, amniotic therapy accelerates healing, modulates inflammation, and decreases scar tissue formation. Barrett Podiatry uses the product CLARIX FLO. This type of therapy is used to treat patients who are suffering from injuries or degenerative conditions.

CLARIX FLO, which is part of the Amniox product line, is an in-office injectable. It achieves symptom relief for patients by managing the pain and inflammation associated with conditions like tendinitis, fasciitis, and epicondylitis, while facilitating regenerative healing of the underlying damaged tissue. The healing qualities provided by amniotic therapy are successful at treating degenerative joints, tendon, ligament, muscle strains, turf toe, hallux limitus, plantar fasciitis, and heel pain.

Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) Therapy

Platelet-Rich Plasma is a unique form of medical therapy that offers a promising solution to promote and accelerate healing in injured or damaged tissues. The patient’s own growth factors are used to stimulate healing of damaged tendon, ligament, fascia, and joint structures.

Platelet rich plasma, or PRP, is blood taken from a patient and spun in a centrifuge, concentrating the number of platelets and growth factors. This plasma is re-injected into the site of damage, inducing the body to repair damage to muscle, tendons, ligaments, and soft tissue. Although the body does this naturally when an injury occurs, the PRP helps speed the healing process.

How does PRP work to stimulate a healing process?

After an injury, the initial healing process is often limited in joints, ligaments, and tendons, where blood flow is limited. In these situations, healing is impaired and a chronic cycle of degeneration can begin. The healing cascade is initiated by bleeding from microscopic and other tissue tears, with the release of platelets from the bloodstream into the tissue tears. Once activated, platelets release an enormous variety of healing proteins called growth factors, which have been shown to accelerate tissue and wound healing. These released growth factors attract Mesenchymal Signalling Cells (MSC’s), which then induce more reparative cells to participate in the healing process. PRP therapy reproduces this natural process by injecting the damaged tissue with concentrated platelets, and this dramatically enhances tissue recovery.

How many treatments are needed?

Up to three injections may be given within a 3-month time frame, usually performed two to three weeks apart. You may, however, gain considerable to complete relief after the first or second injection. Your physician will develop and discuss your individual treatment plan at the time of your patient evaluation.

Is PRP safe?

Current studies and clinical experience suggest no significant safety risk from the use of the patient’s own PRP. PRP is produced using the patient’s own blood using a sterile laboratory process, and is injected into the patient shortly after the blood has been drawn. PRP has been proven safe for over more than 20 years in the medical, dental, and veterinarian fields. All medical procedures involving needles have risk, such as infection or nerve injury, and patients should discuss these risks with their doctor.

Many injuries to the foot do not heal well due to poor blood supply to the area. This prevents healing platelets and growth factors carried by the blood from getting to the injury site. PRP injections can help fix this problem and speed recovery.

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