An hour, and most of it is not the injection.

THE DAY ITSELF

Before

• Stop anti-inflammatories where clinically appropriate — NSAIDs blunt exactly the signaling cascade PRP is meant to provoke. We will tell you when to stop and when to restart, and this is a decision made with you, not a blanket rule.
• Eat and hydrate normally. You are giving blood; arriving depleted makes the draw harder.
• Bring your imaging and your recent labs if you have them.

The visit

Allow about an hour. The draw takes minutes, preparation runs roughly fifteen to twenty, and the injection itself is short. Local anesthetic is used at the skin. We use image guidance for placement.

You will not be sedated. This is a procedure you walk in and walk out of.

Afterward

• Days 1–3 Expect the treated area to feel worse before better. That flare is the inflammatory response doing its job, not a complication.
• Weeks 1–2 Soreness settles. Little functional change yet.
• Weeks 3–6 Where most people first notice something. Graded loading starts here, guided, not improvised.
• Months 3–6 Where the actual answer arrives. Collagen remodeling is slow.

Ice and NSAIDs are generally avoided early for the same reason we asked you to stop them beforehand. Acetaminophen is usually fine.

Risks, plainly

Because PRP is autologous there is no rejection risk and no drug reaction. The realistic risks are procedural: post-injection pain, bruising, and — rarely — infection. PRP carries a lower infection risk than bone marrow aspirate concentrate, and it is worth being precise about why: BMAC involves harvesting from bone, which is a more invasive entry with a higher infection consequence, and it is mitigated with prophylactic antibiotics. PRP does not carry that same risk profile, and antibiotic prophylaxis does not help it.

The first appointment

Allow an hour. Most of it is not the injection, and a fair number of people leave the first visit without one.

• History. What you do all day, not only where it hurts. Occupation, sleep, what you have already tried and for how long, and what you are actually trying to get back to.
• Examination. Including the joints above and below, because limb pain is frequently referred from somewhere else.
• Ultrasound. In the room, where it will change the answer. It shows whether the tendon is degenerate, partially torn, or intact with the pain coming from elsewhere.
• Review of your imaging against the examination rather than in place of it.
• Metabolic review. Recent labs if you have them, ordered if not.

At the end of it you get an opinion, including the opinion that this is not a good bet for you if that is what we think.

On the day of treatment

Eat normally and drink water — you are giving blood, and arriving depleted makes the draw harder and slower. Wear something that gives easy access to the area. Bring your medication list, including anything over the counter, because the anti-inflammatory question matters.

Most people drive themselves home. If the target is a lower limb and you are anxious about driving afterward, arrange a ride — it is not usually necessary, but it is not worth discovering at the wrong moment.

The anti-inflammatory question

We ask you to stop NSAIDs for a window before and after treatment, because they directly oppose the inflammatory signaling the injection is meant to provoke. The exact window is decided with you rather than by a blanket rule, because for some people those drugs are the only reason they are functional.

If stopping them is genuinely difficult, say so at the assessment rather than agreeing and then quietly continuing. There are alternatives for that period, and a plan made openly is better than one built around something you did not mention. Acetaminophen is generally fine throughout.

What the injection feels like

The draw is a standard blood draw. Local anesthetic stings briefly at the skin. The injection itself varies by site — a knee joint is straightforward, a plantar fascia is among the more uncomfortable procedures in musculoskeletal medicine and is done with a regional block for that reason.

You are not sedated. This is a procedure you walk in and walk out of, and you will be awake and able to tell us what you are feeling throughout, which is useful rather than incidental.

Follow-up

We see you at six weeks and again at three months. Three months is the honest assessment point — earlier than that the tissue has not finished doing what it is going to do, and later than that we have wasted your time if it has not worked.

Come back even if it failed. Especially if it failed. Those appointments are where the diagnosis gets revisited and where we find out whether the loading program actually happened, and they are more informative than the successes.

Related reading

• Recovery timeline
• Risks and side effects
• Am I a candidate?
• How PRP works

What to do in the first week

Specific, because vague advice produces vague compliance.

• Move the joint normally within comfort. Complete rest stiffens things and does not protect the repair.
• Do not test it. The urge to check whether it still hurts, several times a day, reliably makes the first week worse and tells you nothing.
• Sleep matters more than usual. Most tissue repair signaling is nocturnal, and the first two weeks is when the proliferative phase is running.
• Eat like someone rebuilding tissue. Adequate protein, and if your glycemic control is borderline this is a period where it counts more than usual.
• Alcohol and nicotine both work against you here, nicotine more so, because the problem is already poor perfusion.

Questions people ask at the desk

Can I shower? Yes, the same day. Can I exercise? Light movement yes, loaded work no, and the specific program starts when we say. Can I fly? Yes. Can I have a massage? Not directly over the treated site for a couple of weeks. Will I set off anything at the airport? No — nothing is implanted.

Can I go back to work? Almost always the next day, unless your job heavily loads the area treated, in which case plan two or three days and tell us in advance so the timing suits your roster rather than ours.

What we ask you to tell us

Before treatment: everything you take, including supplements and anything over the counter. Fish oil, high-dose vitamin E and turmeric all have mild antiplatelet effects, which is worth knowing when the treatment is made of your platelets. Any bleeding tendency. Any recent infection anywhere.

Afterward: fever, spreading redness, or pain that escalates after day three rather than settling. None of those is expected and all of them warrant a call rather than a wait.

The full list is on the risks page, which is worth reading before rather than after.

What people ask about the day itself

Will I be sedated?

No. This is a walk-in, walk-out procedure and you stay awake throughout. Risks and side effects.

How long is the appointment?

About an hour for treatment; the first assessment visit is similar and may not include an injection at all. How we assess candidacy.

Can I take my usual painkillers?

Acetaminophen generally yes; anti-inflammatories are paused for a window we agree with you. Recovery timeline.

When will I know if it worked?

Six weeks for a first signal, three months for the real answer. Recovery timeline.

Do I need someone to drive me?

Usually not. Arrange it if the treated area is a lower limb and you would rather not. Contact us.

The clinic is on Natural Bridge Road next to DePaul Hospital, just off the I-270 and I-70 junction and west of the airport. Free surface parking outside the door, ground-floor entrance, full-size elevator.

How the number of injections actually gets decided.