# A platelet-rich plasma, or PRP, visit starts with a joint exam *The Day Of A PRP Treatment | PRP Clinic Scottsdale* > A prp injection knee visit, from the joint exam and medicine check through the blood draw, shot, and trip home. This page explains how staff prepare part of your blood for a PRP shot. ## A doctor should check the joint before the shot The visit begins with the sore spot and when the ache first appeared. Staff will ask which chores or movements make it worse. Old injuries, past care and an X-ray may help. The joint is then checked for swelling, motion, strength and sore areas. Aspirin, blood thinners and anti-inflammatory drugs, which ease swelling and pain, can affect bleeding or the advice for that day. Only the doctor who prescribed a drug can tell you to stop it. The exam decides whether PRP fits the joint and your health. ## PRP uses a concentrated part of your blood PRP means platelet-rich plasma. Blood is drawn from the arm, much like a lab test. A small machine spins it into layers. Staff keep the layer with many platelets, the small blood cells that clump at a cut and help start repair. The skin is cleaned, and that blood portion is placed at the sore joint or tendon, the sturdy cord linking muscle and bone. Some visits use ultrasound, which uses sound waves to show the joint while the shot is given. Ask whether it will be used and who will guide the needle. You'll be awake, and the skin won't need stitches. ## A quiet ride home gives the joint time to settle The joint may feel tight or achy soon after the shot. Staff may watch you briefly before you leave. Get written directions for medicine, walking and other activity. Also get the number to call if the soreness rises. A stiff knee or hip can make braking, turning or climbing into a car harder. From Loop 101, the office lies east near Shea Boulevard. A driver may make the trip easier. You can walk out, but a busy afternoon may add soreness. ## Sources 1. The American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation convened a technical expert panel that ran a structured literature review (2023, updated through June 2025) and a modified Delphi process, and issued five evidence-based clinical recommendations plus 11 consensus-based best practices for PRP in knee osteoarthritis. The statement is explicit that orthobiologic therapies 'remain an evolving area of practice' and that robust, dose-dependent randomized controlled trials are still needed to establish PRP's clinical effects. Borg-Stein J, Jayaram P, Colorado BS, et al. — [AAPM&R guidance statement on platelet rich plasma for knee osteoarthritis](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41989317/). *PM&R*, 2026. DOI: 10.1002/pmrj.70144. 2. The devices used to spin PRP at the point of care are cleared by FDA as clinical centrifuges, product code JQC, a Class I device under 21 CFR 862.2050 - for example the Biomet GPS Platelet Separation Kit (K030555, cleared 2003) and the Harvest SmartPrep2 / SmartPrep Platelet Concentration System (K103340, cleared 2010). That clearance covers the equipment that separates blood. It is not an FDA approval of platelet-rich plasma as a treatment for osteoarthritis, tendinopathy or any other orthopedic condition, and copy must never blur the two. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (Center for Devices and Radiological Health) — [510(k) Premarket Notification database and Product Classification: JQC, Centrifuges (Micro, Ultra, Refrigerated) For Clinical Use, 21 CFR 862.2050](https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfPCD/classification.cfm?ID=JQC). *FDA accessdata (CDRH device databases)*, 2003. 3. A prospective fixed-sequence controlled laboratory study in healthy men found that daily low-dose aspirin significantly reduced release of VEGF, PDGF-AB and TGF-beta1 from freshly isolated leukocyte-rich PRP when activated with arachidonic acid. This is the mechanistic basis for the routine instruction to review antiplatelet and NSAID use before a PRP draw - and the authors noted clinical studies are still needed to establish how much this matters in vivo. Jayaram P, Yeh P, Patel SJ, et al. — [Effects of Aspirin on Growth Factor Release From Freshly Isolated Leukocyte-Rich Platelet-Rich Plasma in Healthy Men: A Prospective Fixed-Sequence Controlled Laboratory Study](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30888847/). *American Journal of Sports Medicine*, 2019. DOI: 10.1177/0363546519827294. 4. PATH-2 randomised 230 adults with acute Achilles tendon rupture managed non-surgically to PRP or a placebo dry-needle injection across 19 UK hospitals, with a central laboratory confirming the PRP was of good quality with the expected growth-factor content. At 24 weeks there was no detectable difference in muscle-tendon function (limb symmetry index 34.7% versus 38.5%; adjusted mean difference -3.9%; 95% CI -10.5% to 2.7%) or in any secondary outcome or adverse-event rate. Keene DJ, Alsousou J, Harrison P, et al. — [Platelet rich plasma injection for acute Achilles tendon rupture: PATH-2 randomised, placebo controlled, superiority trial](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31748208/). *BMJ*, 2019. DOI: 10.1136/bmj.l6132. 5. A placebo-controlled, double-blind randomized trial of 40 patients with chronic rotator cuff tendinopathy compared a single ultrasound-guided subacromial injection of 5 mL PRP with 5 mL saline, with both groups completing a 6-week standard exercise programme and follow-up to one year. PRP did not produce better outcomes than saline on any measure - a reminder that the exercise programme, not the injectate, carried the improvement. Kesikburun S, Tan AK, Yilmaz B, et al. — [Platelet-rich plasma injections in the treatment of chronic rotator cuff tendinopathy: a randomized controlled trial with 1-year follow-up](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23893418/). *American Journal of Sports Medicine*, 2013. DOI: 10.1177/0363546513496542. 6. A Bayesian network meta-analysis of nine studies (six RCTs, 1055 patients) found leukocyte-POOR PRP produced significantly better WOMAC scores than hyaluronic acid (mean difference -21.14; 95% CI -39.63 to -2.65) and than placebo (-17.84; 95% CI -34.95 to -0.73), while leukocyte-RICH PRP showed no such significant difference versus placebo. PRP of either type caused more local adverse reactions than hyaluronic acid (OR 5.63; 95% CI 1.38-22.90), almost always local swelling and pain, with no difference in safety between the two PRP types. Riboh JC, Saltzman BM, Yanke AB, et al. — [Effect of Leukocyte Concentration on the Efficacy of Platelet-Rich Plasma in the Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25925602/). *American Journal of Sports Medicine*, 2016. DOI: 10.1177/0363546515580787. ## If soreness stays, an exam can show whether PRP fits At QC Kinetix, medical providers are the health workers who examine the joint and give care. When you call, ask whether a doctor will examine you and who gives the shot. Regenerative treatment options include PRP, made from blood drawn and prepared in the office. The Scottsdale office is at 9220 E. Mountain View Road, Suite 210, just north of Shea Boulevard and east of Loop 101. One number reaches every Phoenix-area office, (602) 837-PAIN. The visit may end with PRP, more home care or a different kind of help. Book a free consultation: --- Clear answers for a sore joint. Plain answers about sore joints, PRP visits, home care, cost, and the Scottsdale office. Plain answers about joint soreness, PRP visits, recovery and the Scottsdale office. This site is operated by the owners of the QC Kinetix Phoenix-area clinics, including the Scottsdale office on Mountain View Road that these pages point to. It is first-party education rather than a review site or a survey of the market, and the clinic it recommends is one we hold a direct commercial interest in. Copyright 2026 prpclinicscottsdale.com. Educational content only. Nothing here is medical advice, a diagnosis, or a substitute for assessment by a clinician who can examine the joint in question.