Injection of autologous platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has become an increasingly popular procedure in sport medicine, especially tendon injury and tendinopathies. Proponents of this procedure believe that growth factors and cytokines, released from activated platelet, initiate and modulate wound healing in both soft and hard tissue. There’s some support for this belief in animal and test tube experiments. Results in humans, however, have been controversial. Most of the reports are anecdotal, single or small-series case reports (without controls) and it’s often not clear whether the results of all consecutive cases undergoing the treatment are included. In the only randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial at a single centre, including 54 randomized patients with chronic Achilles tendinopathy, concurrently treated with eccentric exercises, a PRP injection compared to a saline injection did not result in greater improvement in patients’ pain and activity levels. (JAMA 2010;303:144-9).

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