Medically Reviewed by W. Nathaniel Gasque, MD

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is used to treat a wide variety of patients who experience sports and other orthopedic injuries. Dr. Nathan Gasque, a sports medicine physician with McLeod Seacoast Orthopaedics, explains how PRP works and what kind of outcomes patients can expect.

What is a PRP injection?

A PRP injection is specifically platelet rich plasma, and that is under the umbrella term of orthobiologic, or more specifically, a blood-derived therapy. And what we do is take your own blood and use that to try to facilitate healing. We take a concentrate of your blood, we spin it down in a centrifuge, and we obtain a high ratio of platelets, plasma, and on occasion, leukocytes (white blood cells) as well. These products help either produce (or they already have) proteins, growth factors, cytokines, and other products that help facilitate healing in your body for various orthopedic injuries – whether that means tears, tendinopathies (conditions that cause pain and swelling in tendons), or arthritis. Instead of just covering up pain or reducing inflammation, with this therapy, we are actually hoping to help facilitate healing and, potentially, regrowth.

I’ve seen people notice benefits from this procedure as early as in the first week, but generally how it works is that it helps facilitate healing. You may see benefits in weeks to months. So it’s not an instant relief, but in the long term, it should provide benefits.

What Happens During the PRP Injection?

We would talk about your injury or condition, obtain any records or imaging that we may need, and then we would talk about what research is available for your specific condition. You would come in for a separate visit, we would draw the blood, and then spin it down in our centrifuge. And then under ultrasound guidance, we would find the area of concern before giving you the injection. The whole process for the visit can take 30 to 40 minutes. You should be able to leave without any issues or have any limitations that day.

To learn more, speak with an orthopedic specialist near you.