Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP)

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is the patient's own blood, spun to concentrate the platelets and injected into an injured tendon, joint or soft tissue to try to improve pain and healing.

It is the most widely used orthobiologic in sport and exercise medicine (SEM), it is heavily marketed, and athletes often ask for it by name. The evidence is far less settled than the marketing suggests: where it has been tested most rigorously, placebo-controlled trials have not shown clinically important benefit.

This page covers how PRP is prepared, what the evidence shows condition by condition, and how to counsel an athlete honestly, including the anti-doping position.