Treatment Puts Her Back on the Slopes
Michelle Neveu has always lived an active lifestyle.
The Vacaville mom and Air Force Reservist is a nurse practitioner in Napa and when she’s not on the job, or chasing her children, she enjoys outdoor activities, such as hiking and skiing with her family.
But injuries suffered when she was younger (a broken leg while playing soccer and a dislocated knee cap when wakeboarding) began limiting her ability to enjoy those activities.
“My right knee is worse than the left but I’ve developed osteoarthritis in both,” she explained.
She tried steroid injections and viscosupplementation (where a gel-like fluid is injected into the knee) but the relief didn’t last long so she began researching a treatment that has been gaining national attention for the past few years: Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) injections.
With PRP, the patient’s own blood is drawn and placed into a centrifuge that rapidly spins the sample, separating out the other components of the blood from the platelets and concentrating them within the plasma. The platelet rich plasma is then injected back into the patient’s affected joint.
Michelle had been scheduled to have the treatment done in Napa but then the COVID pandemic hit and such procedures were put on hold as medical providers across the nation were inundated with COVID patients. By the time the pandemic passed, the location where she had planned to have the treatment was no longer offering it.
Then she heard about NorthBay Health Orthopedic Surgeon Andrew Brooks, M.D., who began offering PRP knee injections last year.
She reached out and scheduled a consultation with Dr. Brooks. She had the treatment on her left knee in November 2022 and the result was so good, she decided to have her right knee done in February 2023.
“The patients we’ve seen are seeing results in three to four weeks,” said Dr. Brooks. “And I have to say, we have been pleasantly surprised by how well they all are doing. We can’t promise people that they will all have fantastic results but I have been surprised by how many are expressing how happy they are.”
He noted that NorthBay is seeing more and more patients for the procedure and estimates a “90-plus percent success rate in decreasing pain,” which he describes as “pretty encouraging.”
The key, he said, lies in using the human body’s own healing properties.
“Normally there is no blood in the knee joint; we inject the platelet-rich plasma into the knee and that’s what has all healing factors,” he said.
The procedure doesn’t reverse arthritis, he cautioned, but it does impact and reduce the pain associated with it.
And because it is the patient’s own blood that is used, there is less danger of an adverse reaction. It can be repeated longer term, whereas that isn’t an option with things such as steroid injections.
For Michelle, the longer-lasting benefits are a big plus.
“I will someday need a total knee replacement, but not right now,” she said. “And with this, I can have the injection once a year and do fine.”
She said she is able to be active and ski without having to tape up her knee or without having to take ibuprofen before and after activity.
Her advice for others who may be considering the process?
“I highly recommend it,” she said.
Learn more about NorthBay Health Orthopedics and PRP treatments on our website, or call us at (707) 624-7900.
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