Which tendon may be causing the soreness?

What does each sore area usually feel like?

Tennis elbow usually hurts on the outside during gripping or lifting, while the thick band along your sole, called the plantar fascia, often hurts under the heel on first steps. Rotator-cuff tendons may hurt when you reach overhead or lie on that shoulder. Gluteal means the buttock area; those tendons often cause soreness at the outside of the hip. The Achilles joins the calf to the heel and may feel stiff when a walk begins.

The sore location gives the exam a useful start.

When is a visit worth arranging?

You might try a shorter walk, lighter grip, lower reach, or slower return to exercise when soreness began little by little. If you’re much worse the following morning, the activity was probably too hard for now. At QC Kinetix, biologic therapies means non-surgical care made in the clinic with blood taken from you, such as PRP. A doctor, nurse, or another trained medical provider can check motion, strength, and tender areas before saying whether it may suit you. New numbness, a sudden pop, strong weakness, fever, or spreading redness needs quicker medical care.

You don’t have to name the tendon alone.

Sources

1. A meta-analysis of 20 trials (1268 participants) covering elbow epicondylitis and plantar fasciitis found that for epicondylitis PRP gave a statistically and clinically meaningful long-term improvement in pain versus corticosteroid, with a very large effect size of -1.3 (95% CI -1.9 to -0.7), but the evidence level was LOW; there was moderate evidence that corticosteroid gave better short-term (1-3 month) pain relief than PRP.

   Huang K, Giddins G, Wu LD — Platelet-Rich Plasma Versus Corticosteroid Injections in the Management of Elbow Epicondylitis and Plantar Fasciitis: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. American Journal of Sports Medicine, 2020. DOI: 10.1177/0363546519888450.

2. A systematic review of 26 studies of PRP for lateral epicondylitis assessed against minimal clinically important difference thresholds rather than statistical significance found the mean improvement exceeded the MCID from week 4 through week 104 for VAS and DASH, and from weeks 4-52 for the Mayo score. Both leukocyte-rich and leukocyte-poor systems met the MCID at almost every observation point.

   Niemiec P, Szyluk K, Jarosz A, et al. — Effectiveness of Platelet-Rich Plasma for Lateral Epicondylitis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Based on Achievement of Minimal Clinically Important Difference. Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine, 2022. DOI: 10.1177/23259671221086920.

3. A meta-analysis of eight randomized trials of PRP for rotator cuff tendinopathy concluded PRP was a safe and effective intervention for long-term pain control and shoulder function - while noting that the studies varied in PRP preparation and injection technique and that the control interventions differed between trials (saline in four, rehabilitation or dry needling in the other four).

   A Hamid MS, Sazlina SG — Platelet-rich plasma for rotator cuff tendinopathy: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS ONE, 2021. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0251111.

4. A meta-analysis of 15 studies in plantar fasciitis found PRP superior to corticosteroid on AOFAS at 6 and 12 months (P=.009 both) and on VAS at 3, 6 and 12 months, with no advantage in the first month. The authors added the caveat that nine of the fifteen studies had a high risk of bias and that 'different protocols for PRP preparation reduce the internal and external validity of these findings' - the preparation problem stated as an explicit limit on the conclusion.

   Hohmann E, Tetsworth K, Glatt V — Platelet-Rich Plasma Versus Corticosteroids for the Treatment of Plantar Fasciitis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. American Journal of Sports Medicine, 2021. DOI: 10.1177/0363546520937293.

5. 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. FDA accessdata (CDRH device databases), 2003.