What to expect from PRP injection for patellar tendinitis

The patellar tendon connects the kneecap to the shinbone and transfers force when you stand, climb, or jump. Patellar tendinitis, also called patellar tendinopathy, can make the lower front of the knee painful during loading. PRP is prepared from your blood and placed at the affected tendon, often with ultrasound guidance.

The injection is a support for a broader recovery plan, not a substitute for changing the load that irritated the tendon. Soreness can temporarily increase after treatment. Tendon improvement is judged through everyday function and tolerance of carefully progressed exercises.

Beforehand, tell your clinician about medicines, bleeding or clotting problems, skin infection, allergies, and previous knee treatment. Ask how to handle pain and whether you need help getting home. Avoid planning sport, repeated stairs, or jumping immediately after the appointment.

Follow the prescribed activity restriction, which may begin with relative rest and gentle range-of-motion work. As irritability settles, physiotherapy can introduce isometric exercises, controlled strengthening, and later energy-storage drills such as hopping when appropriate. Increase one demand at a time and use next-day pain and swelling as feedback. Return to sport should depend on strength, control, and tendon tolerance rather than a calendar date.

Seek prompt advice if pain, warmth, redness, or swelling around the injection site keeps increasing, or if you develop drainage or fever. Get urgent help for sudden loss of knee extension, a pop followed by marked weakness, inability to bear weight, new numbness, or breathing difficulty.

Ask whether the tendon has a partial tear, which activities should stop, when loading can restart, how exercises will progress, and what signs show that the tendon is tolerating rehabilitation. Discuss other options if pain remains during ordinary walking or the tendon feels weak.