Table 2:

Detailed description of pre-habilitation and rehabilitation protocols after PRP for included level I and II Achilles tendinopathy studies.

Ad Article, type of study (year)	Tendon	n	Procedure details	Pre-PRP	Post-procedure meds	Rest period	Rehab initiation	Supervised program?	Rehab protocol	Outcome
DeVos (71), RCT (2010)	Achilles	PRP: 27 Saline: 27	1 PRP injection vs 1 saline injection Intra-tendinous	No prior PPR injections. No prior heavy load eccentric exercise program.	Acetamin-ophen encouraged	2 days	Day 8	No	1 week of stretching exercises. Daily eccentric training (180 reps) for 12 weeks. Gradual return to sports at 4 weeks.	VISA-A significantly improved in both PRP and placebo groups after 24 weeks without a significant difference between groups.
Krogh (73), RCT (2016)	Achilles	PRP 12 Saline: 12	1 PRP injection vs 1 saline injection Intra-tendinous	No prior Achilles tendon surgery	N/a	4 days	Day 5	No	Eccentric strengthening, stretching, and coordination	No statistically significant difference in VISA-A between groups at 3 months. Large drop out rate after 3 months.
Boesen (70), RCT (2017)	Achilles (midportion, avg duration= 27.5 mos)	PRP: 20 HVI: 20 Placebo: 20	4 PRP injections vs 1 HVI and 3 SubQ saline injections vs 4 SubQ saline injections, all 2 weeks apart Peri-tendinous	No steroid or blood product injection within previous 6 months. No use of quinolones within previous 6 months.	N/a	3 days	Day 4	No but PT consulted on days 1, 14, 28, and 42 to make adjustments	Twice daily eccentric training (180 reps) for 12 weeks. Maintenance eccentric exercises 3 times per week (weeks 12–24).	VISA-A improved in all groups, greatest in HVI at 6 & 12 weeks and HVI and PRP at 24 weeks. VAS improved in all groups, greatest in HVI and PRP groups. Tendon thickness decreased in HVI and PRP groups only. Muscle function (via Heel Rise test) improved in all groups.
Erroi (72) retrospective cohort (2017)	Achilles (insertional, avg duration= 14 mos)	PRP: 21 ESWT: 24	2 PRP injection (2 weeks apart) vs 3 sessions of ESWT Intra-tendinous	No foot surgery or CSI within previous 3 months. No anti-coagulant or anti-platelet medication within previous 3 months.	Acetamin-ophen encouraged Avoid NSAIDs	None	N/a	No	5 phase daily eccentric training: 1) Calf stretching, 2) eccentric exercises, 3) foot proprioceptive exercises, 4) calf stretching, 5) icing for 8 weeks. Maintenance protocol as above twice weekly (weeks 8–12). Return to sport after 4 weeks if minimal or no pain.	VISA-A improved in both groups up to 6-month follow up. No differences between groups at 2 or 6 month follow up but ESWT showed better improvement than PRP at 4 month follow up. VAS improved in both groups without a difference between groups. Patient satisfaction progressively improved in both groups at all time points.
Abate (69), retrospective observational (2018)	Achilles (non-insertional, avg duration= 12.7 mos)	PRP: 46 Dry Needling: 38	3 weekly PRP injections vs dry needling Intra-tendinous	No PT modalities or eccentric training within previous 3 months. No steroid or hyaluronic acid injection within previous 3 months	Acetamino-phen encouraged Avoid NSAIDs	3–4 days	Day 5	No	Daily eccentric training and stretching (3 sets of 15 reps) for at least 3 months. Gradual return to sport.	No differences in pain and function between groups at 3 and 6-month follow up. Patient satisfaction was higher in PRP group at 6 months (41.3% vs 26.3%).

ACP= autologous conditioned plasma, avg= average, CSI= corticosteroid injection, DASH= Disability of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand score, ESWT= extracorporeal shockwave therapy, HVI= high volume injection, hx= history, MCID= minimal clinically important difference, mHHS= modified Hip Harris Score, min= minutes, mos= months, n= number of subjects, N/a= not applicable, NSAIDs=Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, Prehab= prehabilitation, PRP= platelet-rich plasma, PT= physical therapy, Rehab= rehabilitation, SubQ= Subcutaneous, VAS=Visual Analogue Score, VISA-A= Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment-Achilles, VISA-P=Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment-Patellar.