PRP Injections for Joint and Tendon Pain in Scarsdale, NY

Physiatry — Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation — is the medical specialty devoted to restoring function without surgery. It is the natural home of regenerative injection medicine, and it is where Dr. Dentico spent his training and career. He is board certified by the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation with a sports medicine subspecialty, has more than fifteen years in regenerative medicine and pain management, and trained under Drs. Gerard Malanga and Jay Bowen at New Jersey Sports Medicine, one of the field's most established regenerative practices. That background matters because the hardest part of PRP is not the injection. It is deciding what is actually causing your pain, and whether PRP is the right answer for it.

PRP performs best in mild-to-moderate degeneration and in tendons that stopped healing. It performs worst in advanced bone-on-bone arthritis, where the honest recommendation is often a surgical opinion instead. You will get that answer at the consultation.

• Knee pain from mild-to-moderate osteoarthritis, or patellar tendinopathy
• Tennis elbow and golfer's elbow that has lasted months
• Shoulder and rotator cuff tendinopathy without a full-thickness tear
• Lateral hip pain — gluteal tendinopathy and greater trochanteric pain syndrome
• Achilles tendinopathy and plantar fasciitis
• Hamstring and other chronic soft-tissue injuries that keep recurring
• Active adults and athletes who want to avoid repeated cortisone

A candid summary. Where the data is strong we will say so; where it is mixed we will say that too.

Knee. The best-studied application of PRP anywhere in the body. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses consistently show improvement in pain and function versus placebo, most clearly at three to six months. Comparative analyses favour leukocyte-poor PRP over hyaluronic acid and over corticosteroid in mild-to-moderate osteoarthritis. Twelve-month results vary between trials. PRP does not regenerate cartilage that is already gone, so severity matters enormously to whether it is worth doing.

Elbow. Lateral epicondylitis — tennis elbow — is one of PRP's strongest indications. Randomised trials support it in chronic cases where rest, bracing and therapy have failed, and a 2026 systematic review of randomised trials found complication rates comparable to corticosteroid and saline, with no serious adverse events.

Hip. The distinction matters here more than anywhere. Lateral hip pain is most often gluteal tendinopathy or greater trochanteric pain syndrome, and tendon problems are reasonable PRP targets. Hip joint osteoarthritis itself has thinner and more conflicting evidence. Working out which one you have is an examination question, not a scan question alone.

Shoulder. Widely used for rotator cuff tendinopathy and many patients report meaningful improvement, but published results are more mixed than for elbow or knee. A full-thickness tear is a surgical conversation, not a PRP one — which is why imaging review comes before any injection.

Foot and ankle. For plantar fasciitis, studies generally show PRP performing comparably to corticosteroid injection, without the same limit on how often it can be repeated. Achilles tendinopathy is commonly treated and often helped, though the trial evidence is less consistent.

What we will not tell you. That PRP is a cure, that it regrows cartilage, or that it works for everyone. It is a well-tolerated treatment with real evidence behind specific uses and thin evidence behind others. If your problem falls in the second category, we will say so.

An option between cortisone and surgery. The gap between a steroid injection that wears off and an operation you are not ready for is where most of our PRP patients live.

Diagnosis before injection. Lateral hip pain is usually gluteal tendinopathy, not hip arthritis. Shoulder pain may be tendon, joint or neck. An examination by a physiatrist determines where the needle goes — and whether it should go anywhere.

Ultrasound guidance where it counts. For tendon and small-joint targets, accuracy changes outcomes. Guidance is used wherever it improves placement rather than as a routine upsell.

No tissue-thinning tradeoff. Repeated corticosteroid carries a recognised risk of tendon and cartilage deterioration. PRP does not, which matters for a problem you have had for years.

Safe for competitive athletes. PRP is autologous and permitted under current anti-doping rules, unlike several alternatives.

Treated alongside the rest of your health. Tissue repair depends on blood sugar, vitamin D, thyroid and sleep. We are a clinic that tests and treats those, not an injection storefront.

Same-day, in our Scarsdale office.

1. Physiatric examination. A proper musculoskeletal exam plus review of any MRI or X-ray you have. This is the step that determines whether PRP is the right treatment and which structure to target.
2. The plan, in plain language. What we think is wrong, whether PRP is likely to help, how many injections, and what the alternatives are — including surgery, if that is the better path.
3. Draw and preparation. Blood is drawn in office and centrifuged to concentrate the platelet fraction while you wait.
4. Guided injection. Injection into the target tissue, with ultrasound guidance where placement accuracy affects the result. Local anaesthetic is used.
5. Rehabilitation and review. A loading plan for the following weeks, then follow-up to judge response before deciding on any further treatment.

For mild-to-moderate knee osteoarthritis, yes — it is the best-studied use of PRP anywhere in the body. A pooled analysis of 42 randomised trials in 3,696 patients found PRP outperforming placebo, hyaluronic acid and corticosteroid on pain and function, with benefit against corticosteroid peaking around six months. It does not help advanced bone-on-bone arthritis in the same way, because it cannot replace cartilage that is gone.

It depends entirely on your timeframe. In tennis elbow, corticosteroid ranks first for pain and function in the short term (under two months) while PRP ranks first in the long term (six months and beyond). If you need function back this week, cortisone is often the better tool. If you have had a problem for a year and have already had two or three steroid injections, PRP avoids the tissue-thinning concern associated with repeated corticosteroid.

It depends which structure is the problem, and that distinction matters more here than anywhere else. Most lateral hip pain comes from gluteal tendinopathy or greater trochanteric pain syndrome, and tendon problems are reasonable PRP targets. Hip joint osteoarthritis itself has thinner and more conflicting evidence. Working out which one you have is an examination question, not a scan question alone.

PRP is widely used for rotator cuff tendinopathy and many patients improve, though published results are more mixed than for elbow or knee. A full-thickness tear is a surgical conversation rather than a PRP one, which is why imaging review happens before any injection is planned.

Physiatry — Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation — is the specialty built around non-surgical musculoskeletal medicine. The hardest part of PRP is not the injection; it is deciding what is causing the pain and whether PRP is the right answer. An injection into the wrong structure fails regardless of what is in the syringe.

Gradually, over weeks rather than days. PRP provokes a repair response rather than suppressing inflammation, so improvement builds. Expect soreness first, then gradual change, with review scheduled to assess response before planning any further treatment.

Usually yes, with modifications. Tendons remodel in response to progressive load, so a rehabilitation plan is part of the treatment rather than an optional extra. We will give you specific guidance and coordinate with your physical therapist where that helps.