
Physical Therapy & Rehab
PRP injections provide small improvements in pain and function for tendinopathy patients
This report has been verified
by one or more authors of the
original publication.
Phys Ther Sport. 2016 Jan;17:87-94
5 randomized controlled trials (170 patients) analyzing the effects of ultrasound-guided platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections in patients with tendinopathy were included. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to quantitatively compare PRP injections to placebo injections or dry needling in terms of pain and function outcomes up to 6 months after treatment. The results displayed that PRP injections statistically improved pain intensity 6 months after treatment (but not at 2 or 3 months) and improved functional disability 3 months after treatment, in comparison to the control groups. Subgroup analyses indicated that PRP displayed the greatest effect sizes in rotator cuff tendinopathy, and had no significant effects in lateral epicondylitis patients in either outcome. The results of this study should be interpreted with caution as a small number of trials were included, conditions evaluated were heterogeneous and the clinical relevance of the significant differences pain and function need to be evaluated.
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