Standardizing Rehabilitation After Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) Injections for Soft-Tissue Injuries

Vollständiger Abstract

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Purpose of Review: Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is widely used for musculoskeletal soft‑tissue injuries, yet outcomes remain inconsistent and post‑injection rehabilitation is rarely standardized or well described. This review synthesizes clinical PRP trials across common soft‑tissue indications with specific attention to rehabilitation reporting and proposes a structured, criteria‑based post‑PRP rehabilitation framework.​ Recent Findings: A structured search identified 45 randomized or prospective comparative studies in tendon, muscle, ligament, and related soft‑tissue conditions. Rotator cuff–related conditions and lateral elbow tendinopathy were most frequently studied, followed by Achilles and patellar tendinopathy, acute muscle and ligament injuries, and other conditions such as greater trochanteric pain syndrome and carpal tunnel syndrome. Across indications, PRP showed mixed results ranging from superiority to equivalence or time‑dependent effects versus saline, corticosteroid, exercise, or other injectates with no consistent added benefit in several high‑quality Achilles, patellar, or rotator cuff trials that used defined loading programs. Only about one‑third of studies reported clearly structured rehabilitation, roughly half provided vague exercise descriptions, and the remainder offered minimal or no rehabilitation detail.​ Summary: Current PRP evidence for soft‑tissue injuries is heterogeneous and heavily confounded by under‑specified rehabilitation, limiting reproducibility and clinical translation. A standardized, criteria‑based post‑PRP protocol aligned with tissue‑healing phases, contemporary loading principles, and explicit reporting of exercises and progression offers a pragmatic framework to design future trials and guide clinical rehabilitation after PRP injections.