After a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection, some patients experience worse pain due to the body’s natural inflammatory response. PRP works by stimulating healing and clotting, which can cause temporary swelling, discomfort, and tissue irritation. This post-injection pain is usually short-term, lasting days to weeks, as the body repairs damaged tissue. However, severe or prolonged pain may require medical evaluation. Allergic reactions are rare due to the use of the patient’s blood, but if suspected, consulting a healthcare provider is advised.
It’s normal to feel alarmed when experiencing worse pain after a PRP injection. It can be confusing, especially when you’re expecting relief; instead of feeling better, you’re left wondering if the treatment is working or if something is wrong.
The good news is that it’s normal. The bad news is also that it’s normal. While offering lasting relief for joint pain, tendinitis, and other common connective tissue problems, the body’s initial reaction to a platelet-rich plasma injection is often discomforting. Understanding why this pain occurs and what to expect during recovery can reassure you that it’s often a normal part of the healing process, give you greater confidence in your treatment, and help you navigate the rest of your treatment plan.
What is Platelet Rich Plasma Injection and How Does It Work?
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections use your body’s own blood to promote healing. These injections do so by effectively improving your body’s own regenerative capacities through direct physical intervention, known as PRP injection therapy.
Healing is a complex process. Blood is the primary catalyst for tissue regeneration, particularly through the blood platelets (thrombocytes), which are tiny cells synthesized by the body through your bone marrow. When they stumble on injured tissue, platelets facilitate blood clotting to close wounds, while transporting vital proteins to where they’re needed. Growth factors, derived from the patient’s blood, play a crucial role in PRP therapy by accelerating natural healing and tissue regeneration.
Platelet-rich plasma injections involve taking a certain volume of a person’s blood, centrifuging the sample to separate the blood into its respective components (plasma, red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets), and then extracting and injecting the platelet-rich plasma into an injury site. This is essentially what the body does, but sped up through human intervention.
PRP injections are commonly used to speed up recovery in athletes, but they have also been successfully used to help decrease symptoms of arthritic pain and other forms of joint pain, after both acute and chronic injuries. PRP is also sometimes used as a cosmetic intervention (popularly described as a “vampire facial”), and as a treatment for bladder issues. Regenerative medicine techniques, including PRP therapy, harness the body’s natural healing processes to effectively address various conditions.
Common Reasons for Increased Pain After PRP Injection
It’s not uncommon to experience a little more pain after a PRP procedure. One of the primary indicators of healing is inflammation. The area around an injured body part tends to swell and get warm – not because of the damaged tissue, but because of your body’s response to the damage.
Nerve signals from injured body parts tend to be amplified as well because your body is trying to allocate resources toward recovery and regeneration and doesn’t want further damage to the same area. That’s why we tend to guard our wounds or walk with a limp to spare an injured joint.
PRP injections can amplify swelling and inflammation around an injury site, at least temporarily. If the injection is part of a larger treatment process for a chronic injury, then you may experience some discomfort as your body reacts to the shot. Depending on the injury, you may require multiple PRP injections for several weeks. Improvements in symptoms can take weeks to months to manifest, depending on the severity and nature of the injury being treated. While PRP can speed up your body’s natural healing, the treatment is still limited by how well you heal and recover from injuries.
Lifestyle factors can affect your ability to heal, including nutrition, sleep, psychological stress, hormone levels, medication, and substance use.
The chances of an allergic reaction are incredibly low, because the treatment uses your blood cells. The shot itself should also be virtually painless. Bruising is normal, as is soreness around the injection site – much like you would experience with a mild vaccine shot.
The treating doctor should inform you that you should avoid cleaning the injection site for about two days. You should also avoid rigorous activity. Strategies such as using local anesthetics and following best practices can help minimize pain after the procedure.
Severe Pain After a PRP Treatment
Sharp or severe pain is not normal. While dull pain or soreness can occur, if the pain after a PRP injection worsens considerably or gets worse one or two days after injection, you must call your doctor.
If your pain has worsened considerably after the treatment, then there may have been a complication with the shot. Infection is always a risk when getting an injection treatment, whether due to contaminated medical equipment, medical negligence, or a weakened immune system.
Depending on the injection site, there’s also a potential for nerve damage. It’s important to discuss these risks with your doctor before treatment.
Tips to Manage Pain and Discomfort After PRP Treatment
One of the tougher parts of dealing with the pain of a PRP injection is that you shouldn’t interfere with the localized inflammatory response. This means cooling is not recommended, because the swelling and inflammation caused by the healing process is what the body needs.
Furthermore, anti-inflammatory medication is out of the question. Taking an Advil after a PRP injection has been shown to significantly impact its effectiveness.
Acetaminophen/paracetamol/Tylenol is an acceptable pain medication because it doesn’t affect inflammation. However, some studies do suggest that Tylenol might impact platelet activity, so try to avoid taking one unless you must.
Heat, either through a warmed bottle, a heat pack, or red light therapy, can also temporarily reduce pain while potentially speeding up recovery.
Physical therapy plays a crucial role in managing pain and aiding recovery after PRP treatment, helping to enhance the healing process and prevent complications.
Is Increased Pain a Sign of Treatment Success?
While discomfort and increased pain can be normal, it doesn’t necessarily mean the treatment is working better or worse. Bodies react very individually to a variety of treatments, including PRP injections.
Conclusion
While the merits of PRP injections are still being researched, it is a fairly low-risk treatment plan that can greatly benefit individuals with joint or tendon pain, particularly from recurring injury or physical stress. Some pain or discomfort after an injection is normal, but sharp or severe pain warrants a call to your doctor.
Take the First Step Towards Pain-Free Living Today
