Tuesday, September 8, 2009
PRP and Groin and Hip Pain
By Tim Panaccio
CSNPhilly.com
 
Flyers left wing Simon Gagne skated – gingerly – Tuesday morning at Skate Zone for the first time since injuring his right groin late August.

He hopes to be skating this weekend when the Flyers open their full training camp.  Rookies and prospects took the ice Tuesday for two hours of developmental drills.

“I’m pretty happy the way things went today,” Gagne said of his 30-minute skate, in which he also shot pucks but did not open his stride. “Everything was fine. It was the first step and just one easy practice.”

Coach John Stevens was encouraged.

“He’ll push a little more and hopefully, get back on the ice with his teammates at the end of the 20 weeks and see where he’s at,” Stevens said. “We’re certainly optimistic about the way he felt today.”

Gagne pulled his right groin on Aug. 24 in Calgary doing sprints during Team Canada’s Olympic orientation camp. He had undergone surgery last May 28 to remove a bone spur and adhesions in his right hip.

Two days after the groin pull in Calgary, Gagne received an injection of his own blood – PRP or platelet rich plasma – into his right groin and right hip to speed the recovery. It requires placing the blood in a centrifuge and rotating it at high speed to separate red blood cells from the plasma itself.
 
“Platelet Rich Plasma is injected into the affected area to promote quicker healing; it is not blood doping,” said general manager Paul Holmgren. 
 
According to Scott Greenberg, MD from the Magaziner Center for Wellness in Cherry Hill, who has treated Gagne before, these injections stimulate cytokines, or cell signals, enabling the immune system to naturally repair damaged tissue.

Gagne is the first Flyer to receive this kind of treatment. The Eagles, Gagne said, utilize PRP treatments, as well. Those treatments take two to three weeks to see results.

“I’ve heard about [the treatment] in the past and I think it’s something we will see more of in the future,” Gagne said. “No medication, no drugs. Just your blood. They take it and [re-inject it to the affected area].”

“It wasn’t too bad,” Gagne said of the procedure. “The [injection] closest to the bone hurt the most. Hopefully, it’s going to work. I heard a lot of great things about it.”

Gagne admitted being nervous on the ice to see how the groin has progressed.

“The first step was to skate by myself and from there we will decide what is best for me,” Gagne said. “It might be smart to do more skating by myself and maybe by Thursday to jump in with the guys and scrimmage or practice. Just step-by-step. There was a huge difference from the way things were going this summer.”

Gagne hopes to be skating Sunday morning when the Flyer veterans hit the ice. He also wants to play in four of the club’s seven preseason games to assure he’s fully healthy.

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