What Does Hines Ward's Recovery Mean For Sports Medicine?

During the Super Bowl XLIII pregame show, Andrea Kremer reported on the sidelines that Hines Ward was doing everything he possibly could to make sure he could play. Although his hyperbaric oxygen chamber was a well-known component of his recovery, Kremer also reported on a medical procedure known as ACP - Autologous Conditioned Plasma.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has an article about the procedure as it relates to Ward.

According to the P-G's description, the therapy involves taking blood from out of the patient, centrifuging it, and re-injecting the afflicted area with platelets from the centrifuged blood. Apparently, this helps the injury to heal faster.

Because the therapy only involves the use of the patient's own blood and does not use any sort of drug, it is not barred by the NFL for usage. The doctor interviewed in the P-G article said that he has performed the procedure on Major League Baseball players as well to help them heal their injuries.

This procedure, in no way, enhances the performance of the athlete...it simply makes their injury heal faster. Which makes me wonder, since it worked for Ward, how much more common will this procedure be?

There seems to be little doubt that this procedure helped Ward be ready in time for the Super Bowl. The type of injury he suffered was nearly identical to one that sidelined team-mate Willie Parker for five weeks this year, and yet Ward was ready to play in the Super Bowl—and come up with two big catches and numerous big blocks—in a short two weeks.

If this worked so well for Ward, will we soon see other star players using this technique?

If LeBron James pulls a hamstring, will we see it used to have him back sooner?

Could this procedure make being a "fragile" player much less of a burden on a team?

Will leagues eventually ban this procedure from being used, and if so, what possible justification would they have?