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Platelet Therapy
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26
December 14 • 2017
jn
eff Ellis is hoping the third time
will be the proverbial charm for
him.
He qualified for the Amateur
American Powerlifting Federation
national meet the past two
years, but twice he couldn’t
compete because of an
injury.
He hurt his right shoul-
der in 2016 and was side-
lined for three months,
knocking him out of the
2016 nationals. Then he
Jeff Ellis
suffered a torn triceps
tendon in his right arm
in March, preventing
him from participating in the 2017
nationals.
The 58-year-old West Bloomfield
resident and certified public
accountant has qualified for the
nationals again. The 2018 event will
be April 19-22 in Grand Rapids.
“I’m crossing my fingers,” Ellis
said. “I don’t have anything else
planned for that weekend and tax
season will be over.”
Ellis’ latest attempt at getting to
the nationals has been aided by an
emerging sports medicine tech-
nology called PRP, or platelet-rich
plasma therapy.
PRP made headlines in 2009 when
Hines Ward and Troy Polamalu of
the Pittsburgh Steelers received
the therapy before the Steelers
won Super Bowl XLIII, beating the
Arizona Cardinals.
Tiger Woods received PRP treat-
ments after undergoing knee
surgery, and ageless major league
pitcher Bartolo Colon is another
PRP patient.
Looking at a minimum nine-
month healing process for his torn
triceps tendon if he didn’t undergo
surgery, Ellis opted for PRP on the
advice of his physical therapist, and
he had it done in mid-April.
The procedure begins with the
collection of 30 millimeters of
blood from the patient. The blood
is placed in a centrifuge to separate
platelet-rich plasma, then the con-
centrated platelets are injected into
the site of the injury.
Platelets are a reservoir for
growth factors that are needed for
the repair of injured tissues.
“My doctor didn’t make any guar-
antees, and my insurance company
considered PRP an experimental
procedure; but for me, it worked like
a charm,” Ellis said. “I started lifting
weights again about two months
after I had the therapy, and I was
going full speed in another month.
“I was optimistic the therapy
would work, but in the back
of my mind, I thought I might
be sidelined for quite a while.”
Ellis said he did a lot
of reading before going
ahead with the therapy.
Interestingly, one of the case
studies he read was about
a 53-year-old competitive
weightlifter and CPA who
had suffered a torn tendon.
After missing the 2017
AAPF nationals in May, Ellis com-
peted in the Michigan Senior
Olympics Summer Games in August.
He won his 13th Senior Olympics
gold medal in eight years, capturing
the men’s age 55-59 198-pound divi-
sion title with a bench press of 270
pounds.
That was below his usual stan-
dards — his winning bench press
at the Michigan Senior Olympics
Winter Games in February was 300
pounds — but Ellis was satisfied.
“I was back; I was pain-free, and I
was making progress,” he said.
Next for Ellis was the AAPF
Michigan Holiday Push-Pull Meet
on Saturday in Royal Oak. He won
again in his age and weight division
and qualified for nationals.
Ellis tied his AAPF state record for
the age and weight division with a
bench press of 290 pounds. He then
bench-pressed 295 pounds, but he
was disqualified because he didn’t
wait long enough for the judge to
give him the sign to lift.
“If I had just waited a fraction of a
second longer … “ Ellis said.
Ellis said he feels as strong as he’s
felt since he picked up weightlifting
again in his middle ages.
He offered some words of encour-
agement for athletes dealing with an
injury.
“Don’t get down on yourself. Be
optimistic,” he said. “I had a few
people tell me after I suffered the
torn triceps that I’ve had a good run
with competitive weightlifting, but
maybe I should give it up. All that
did was make me want to get back
to the gym.
“Even when I couldn’t lift, I could
still do my cardio work.” •
Send sports news to stevestein502004@
yahoo.com.