Hurting so badly he couldn’t turn the key on his truck, Chad Pipkens needed some maintenance in the offseason — namely a PRP injection in his right elbow.
After finishing his 11th season on the Bassmaster Elite Series, the 40-year-old from Dewitt, Mich., was hurting for certain. He finally sought treatment after getting recommendations from others who’ve experienced the same ailment.
“It’s progressive,” he said of his lateral epicondylitis, known as tennis elbow, or perhaps fishing elbow. “It all about abuse of the arm. I didn’t feel it give out. It didn’t give out at all. I just felt it getting more and more sore.”
Pipkens blames the vertical stress of smallmouth fishing in the final events of 2023, as well as lifting his two young girls. The straight up-and-down action and one-armed bronzeback battles can overload tendons in the joint and create inflammation. His got bad.
“I couldn’t pick up my phone … a cup of coffee from top, I couldn’t come close,” said Pipkens, who took ibuprofen and iced it as he fought the pain. “I babied it thinking it would get better, but it didn’t.”
Pipkens went to his doctor, but it didn’t improve much after physical therapy and dry needling.
“After several social media posts, multiple people reached out to me about the platelet-rich plasma injections (PRP),” he said. “Everybody I talked to who had it, it worked.”
So Pipkens made an appointment with Michigan State doctors who performed his shoulder surgery a few years back. Blood was drawn then spun in a centrifuge to separate the platelets, which are called thrombocytes. They are blood cells that cause clotting, growth and healing.
“It’s kinda cool. In a little, clear vial, your blood’s all red,” Pipkens said. “They put it in this machine and when it comes out, the bottom is dark red and top third is like clear gold jelly.”
The photo Pipkens sent shows the lump of plasma after it was injected into his elbow.
“It sits under your skin and eventually that gets absorbed,” he said. “It goes into that tendon and it trickles into the muscles.”
He said the injection was painful as was the following inflammation that increased overnight.
“The next three days, I couldn’t bring my hand to my mouth to eat or brush my teeth it was so inflamed,” he said. “Most the healing takes place in the first three weeks.
“Guys I talked to said it starts to feel good in four to six weeks. I’m at week seven. I’ve got a lot of grip strength back. I couldn’t turn a door knob and couldn’t turn the key in my truck. I can grip now, but I still don’t have the finger dexterity.”
Pipkens, who’s also doing specialized exercises and stretches, disclosed all this during a stop a JM studios in Little Rock on his way to pre-practice for the first two Elites of 2024. He left hard-packed snow for the long drive to Toledo Bend and Lake Fork, where he faced an incoming winter storm.
“I want to get off to a good start, make sure I put in my time,” said Pipkens, who added he doesn’t have much winter experience in Texas. “I just want to look now. There’s a good chance you can find stuff now that will work.”
In the 2019 Elite on Fork, Pipkens found good stuff. After two 30-pound days, including a “new personal best” of 8 pounds, 11 ounces, Pipkens held the lead and was dreaming of belting out a win. However, a day off killed his spot, and he fell to eighth.
That season did begin his streak of qualifying to four consecutive Classics, which ended last year as he fell deep in the Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings.
“I had a rough season, I felt for a couple reasons,” he said. “I got unlucky. I had a lot of lost fish. I got on a deep deal at Murray and Seminole then the fish went up … what I was doing went away.”
At Lake St. Clair, where Pipkens won his sole B.A.S.S. title in a 2014 Open, high wind blew out his areas in Lake Erie where he thought he could win. He had a Top 10 on the Sabine River but faltered in the final three smallmouth events, where the elbow issue added injury to insult.
“It’s been frustrating for me, coming off the worse season I’ve had,” he said. “I feel like I’ve not put a whole season together yet. I feel like I’m due to put a year together.
“I don’t need to win Angler of the Year, but I feel I’m capable of being in the Top 10. I hope I got out all of my bugs for the next few years.”
As he starts his 12th Elite season, Pipkens is optimistic he can get back on track and qualify for his seventh Classic. Scouting is one aspect, while getting healthy another. With March off, he is considering a second PRP treatment.
“I might need another shot, but the problem is you might go backwards a little bit,” he said. “I don’t know if I’ll have time for that.
“It’s still healing now. Rest might help heal it. You’re counting on your body to fish for a living.”
And in high-mileage models, that requires regular maintenance, along with the occasional tune-up.
