PRP, or platelet-rich plasma therapy, is a procedure that uses a concentrated portion of your own blood to promote healing in injured tissue. The entire process, from blood draw to injection, typically takes under an hour in a clinic or office setting. Here’s what happens at each stage.
Preparing Before the Procedure
PRP relies on your platelets functioning properly, so preparation starts well before you arrive at the clinic. You’ll need to stop taking NSAIDs like ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil) and naproxen (Aleve) at least 10 days before the procedure. The same 10-day window applies to aspirin, antiplatelet medications like Plavix, and most supplements, including fish oil, vitamin E, garlic, ginger, ginkgo, green tea, and coenzyme Q10. All of these can interfere with how your platelets clump together and release growth factors.
Blood thinners like Xarelto, Eliquis, or Pradaxa need to be paused two days prior. Warfarin is an exception and can typically be continued throughout the process. Your doctor will review your full medication list before scheduling anything.
The Blood Draw
The procedure begins with a standard blood draw, usually from a vein in your arm. The amount varies by clinic and treatment area, but most draws fall between 15 and 60 milliliters, roughly one to four tablespoons. The blood is collected into tubes that contain an anticoagulant, a chemical that prevents it from clotting before it can be processed. Most clinics use a citrate-based solution called ACD-A, which keeps the platelets intact and inactive until they’re ready to be injected. Since PRP is typically prepared and used within an hour, long-term platelet preservation isn’t a concern, but ACD-A still offers the best protection for maintaining platelet quality during that window.
Spinning the Blood in a Centrifuge
The blood sample goes into a centrifuge, a machine that spins it at high speed to separate its components by density. Red blood cells are heaviest and sink to the bottom. A thin layer of white blood cells sits in the middle. The top layer is plasma, and just above the red blood cells sits the platelet-rich portion that clinicians are after.
There are two main approaches to this step. A single-spin method runs the centrifuge at around 3,000 RPM for about 15 minutes. A double-spin method uses a gentler first spin (around 1,500 RPM for six minutes) to separate the plasma layer, then spins that collected plasma again at 2,500 RPM for another 15 minutes. The double-spin approach produces a significantly higher concentration of platelets. Research has shown that a single spin alone cannot produce the kind of concentrated platelet preparation needed for therapeutic use, making the double-spin method the preferred standard in clinical practice.
The end result is a small volume of golden-colored plasma with a platelet concentration several times higher than normal blood. This concentrated solution contains growth factors that play a role in tissue repair, collagen production, and inflammation control.
Injecting the PRP
Once the platelet-rich plasma is prepared, the clinician injects it directly into the injured or damaged area. Common targets include tendons, ligaments, joints, and the scalp (for hair loss treatment). The injection itself takes only a few minutes.
For many treatment sites, particularly joints and deep tendons, the clinician uses ultrasound imaging to guide the needle in real time. This lets them see exactly where the needle tip is going, which improves accuracy and ensures the PRP reaches the right tissue. Ultrasound guidance is especially common for conditions like rotator cuff tears, plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendon injuries, hip osteoarthritis, and carpal tunnel syndrome. Some superficial injections, like those into the scalp for hair restoration, don’t require imaging guidance.
A local anesthetic may be applied to the skin beforehand, though some providers avoid numbing the deeper tissue since certain anesthetics can affect platelet function. You’ll likely feel pressure and some discomfort during the injection, particularly in tight spaces like tendons or joint capsules.
What Recovery Looks Like
PRP works by triggering a controlled inflammatory response, so some soreness, swelling, and aching at the injection site is expected and actually part of the healing process. This initial flare typically lasts through the first week.
Recovery follows a gradual timeline. During the first seven days, relative rest is the priority. No weight training or heavy loading of the treated area. In weeks two through six, you can begin light aerobic exercise and start gentle strengthening with low-weight, high-repetition movements, as long as pain stays mild. Open-chain exercises (movements where your hand or foot isn’t fixed against a surface) come first.
Between weeks six and twelve, the protocol advances to eccentric exercises (controlled lowering movements), closed-chain exercises, and eventually sport-specific drills like plyometrics and balance training. Full return to sport or high-demand activity typically happens at three months or later, depending on how the tissue responds. Throughout this process, the general rule is that pain should stay below a 3 out of 10 during any exercise. If it doesn’t, you’re pushing too hard.
Common Treatment Areas
PRP is used across orthopedics, sports medicine, and dermatology. In the musculoskeletal world, the most common applications include partial rotator cuff tears, lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow), Achilles tendon problems, plantar fasciitis, trigger finger, hip osteoarthritis, and carpal tunnel syndrome. For plantar fasciitis, PRP has shown better long-term results than steroid injections, with lower rates of reinjection or need for surgery. For hip osteoarthritis, ultrasound-guided PRP injections have demonstrated meaningful, lasting pain reduction and improved function.
Outside of joint and tendon injuries, PRP is widely used for androgenetic alopecia (pattern hair loss), where it’s injected into the scalp in a grid pattern across thinning areas. It’s also used in some cosmetic and wound-healing applications, though the orthopedic and hair-loss uses have the most clinical evidence behind them.
How Many Sessions You May Need
PRP is rarely a one-and-done treatment. Most protocols call for a series of two to three injections spaced four to six weeks apart, followed by maintenance sessions every six to twelve months depending on the condition. The exact schedule varies based on the severity of the injury, the treatment area, and how your body responds to the first round. Results are not immediate. Because PRP works through tissue remodeling rather than symptom masking, meaningful improvement often takes several weeks to months to become noticeable.