Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is a renowned therapy which has become a very popular approach to variable diseases including the painful and disabling joint diseases and injuries.

This approach provides hope for that patient who is worried about getting medical surgeries.

One of the most important issues after getting PRP injection is prp injection recovery.

What is PRP Injection?

Platelet rich plasma (PRP) is a new therapy that uses the body's own blood cells called platelets, which have a natural ability to repair tissues and improve healing. This regeneration ability is due to specific proteins called growth factors which are produced in plenty by platelet cells.

Medical uses of PRP are now approved in different medical fields: in hair therapy, aesthetic treatment of skin problems and in different joint diseases.

In orthopedics, PRP injections are frequently used to relieve joint pain, particularly in diseases like osteoarthritis. In which prp injection has the ability to alleviate inflammation, decrease pain score significantly and inhibit further damages of the joint to be placed

Related Resources for Reference:

• Platelet-Rich Plasma Treatment, Uses, Procedure, and Recovery
• prp injection for knee
• PRP for Sports Injuries: Fast Recovery and Healing 2024

Steps of prp intra articular injection

• After proper evaluation of medical disease and the doctor making a decision to apply prp injection, the first step is to prepare prp.
• A blood sample is taken from the patient and sent to laboratory to be centrifuged, the sample taken is usually around 15ml but the resultant platelet rich plasma will be around 5-7ml.
• This is the sample that the doctor will inject into the patient joint.
• After the injection, there should be some pain which will be removed within a few days. At this point it is crucial to follow all doctor instructions and post injection guidelines carefully, and to be informed prp injection recovery time.

Recovery after prp injection

Because any mistake leads to harmful effect and sometimes failure of therapy and to ensure the full benefit of the treatment it is crucial to know when patient can return to normal activities and when they can do exercise after PRP injection

What are the most important instructions and post-PRP workout recommendations?

• Here is a set of restriction patient have to avoid during the first week:
• Avoid alcohol, smoking and caffeine consumption.
• Avoid baths for 24 hours post injection.
• Avoid steroidal and non-steroidal analgesics and blood thinner unless doctors allow or recommend using them.
• Avoid hot baths and hot and cold compresses for at least 3 days after injection
• Avoid any vigorous movement and exercises for at least 4 weeks or until the doctor allows it.

How long is recovery after prp injection?

The time for recovery varies depending on several factors:

• Injection site: usually joints (intra articular) recovery time is less than that for ligands or tendons.
• Severity of disease: severe cases typically requires longer recovery period than mild cases

PRP Injection Recovery Timeline:

Why is it necessary to avoid exercises too soon after prp injection?

PRP injection side effects and exercise

Playing exercises too soon can produce harmful effect on your body and reduce the efficacy of prp injection:

By increasing inflammatory response exercises can compromise the anti-inflammatory properties and healing ability of growth factors released by the platelets.

Beside that, aggressive movements may prevent the precipitation of prp inside the injection area for the time needed, which means wasting of the active ingredient from the targeted site for therapy.

PRP injection exercise guidelines:

Here is the timeline for exercise after PRP

Rehabilitation after PRP injection

Rehabilitation is an important part for complete recovery and to obtain an effective beneficial effect of prp injection.

gradually retaining physical activity under doctor and physiotherapist supervision should be started after two weeks of therapy.

Early starting of gentle movements that do not cause any stress on the targeted site or pain and within the active Range of Motion (AROM) is recommended within the first two weeks of therapy.

but it is important to be cautioned during rehabilitation training to avoid harming the targeted site.

So, it is obvious that the prp injection is an advanced and effective approach that helps to avoid surgery only by adhering to guideline instructions and following all steps as recommended.

Too soon exercises and extensive strenuous movement is a destructive common mistakes that lead to therapy failure.