ALICIA DELGALLO: Redding back after plasma injection.
Needles and blood gross out Tommy Redding ,so he wasn’t thrilled when trainers suggested a treatment for his plantar fasciitis that involved both.
Redding, a promising young centerback for Orlando City, braved his fears and went in July 5 for a platelet-rich plasma injection, also known as PRP.
The treatment involved drawing a patient’s blood, then separating and concentrating the platelets using a centrifuge. The platelet-rich plasma, which contains growth factors that can promote healing and tissue regeneration, is then injected back into the body at the site of the injury.
“It’s a little gross,” Redding said, “But at the end of the day, whatever helps.”
And he needed help. Orlando City coach Jason
Kreis said his plantar fasciitis — inflammation of the band of tissue that runs the length of the foot — got so bad last week that he was grimacing with pain every step he took in training.
“We really had to pull him out of the availability for the last match,” Kreis said. “But now ... he’s back in training and looked pretty good.”
Five days after the treatment, Redding said he felt much better and had no pain.
Other players within the organization have received PRP treatment to aid in recovery as well, including Orlando Pride goalkeeper
Ashlyn Harris, according to a spokeswoman for the club, who added Harris raved about the results.
“It’s great,” he said. “It was nerve-wracking, but I’m definitely happy I got it done. Hopefully over this break I can still get hard training in but get some rest as well. I’m just looking forward to finishing the rest of the season strong.”
The treatment isn’t new. It hit the sports scene years ago as something strange and new that not everyone was convinced worked.
But in the last decade it’s popularity has surged among athletes and the treatment received approval from the World Anti-Doping Agency in 2010.
Top athletes such as Tiger Woods, Maria Sharapova, Stephen Curry, Kobe Bryant and
Alex Rodriguez are among many others who have spoken openly about turning to PRP for recovery from various injuries.
Non-sports fans may recognize the term from the cosmetic world. PRP is used for a variety of beauty treatments and dermatological issues, and it gained popularity in pop culture as the “Vampire Facial.”
“I never heard of it,” Kreis said, laughing. “When I was a player, there was no such thing.”
Doubling down
After Orlando City’s last game, Kreis called out the referees for errors and favoritism that led to a 3-1 loss at home against Toronto FC.
Public criticism of that nature typically carries a fine in Major League Soccer, often causing players and coaches to restrain their opinions. Not in this case. When asked Tuesday whether he’d received any penalty or backlash for his comments, Kreis said:
“I have not, and it’s one of those occasions where sometimes after a game you say something without maybe being level-headed or having the ability to look at the video first. Often times you’ll change your opinion from those statements,” he paused, “This is not one of those times.”
“I’ve already watched the video, and it’s very, very clear to me that decisions that went against us — in the Toronto game in particular, but I can tell you generally I feel the same exact way in every single match we played this year — the decisions that have gone against us in 50⁄50 calls, the little things going against us, it’s just not right. And in that game in particular, the decision for a foul that they called against [Jozy]
Altidore that led to the third goal that broke our back, um, was critically wrong. And so, it’s another game where you walk out and you feel like if the referees had been better we certainly could have come back in that game and drawn because we had all the momentum, we’d just scored, things were looking positive for us.”
Kreis finished by saying he is not trying to make excuses or “rile anybody up,” but he feels the players, club and fans deserve better from MLS officials.
“I want a fair shake for this team,” Kreis said. “Our fans are some of the best fans in the entire league, this club is supported extremely well by the community and supported extremely well financially by an owner, we deserve better.”