In what will be disappointing news for many, a large-scale clinical trial has found platelet-rich plasma injections for those with osteoarthritis knee pain are no better than a placebo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This type of injection has become an increasingly popular form of treatment for knee joint arthritis, despite its prohibitive cost at around $2,000 per injection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Plasma from a patient\u2019s own blood is injected directly into the joint in the hope it will reduce pain and improve joint cartilage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But a trial conducted by researchers from the universities of Sydney and Melbourne and Monash University has found that while participants who had the plasma injections did have a significant improvement in their knee pain over 12 months, the level of improvement was the same as for those in the placebo group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were also no differences in the MRI scans across both groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kolling Institute and University of Sydney researcher Professor David Hunter concedes the findings will disappoint some people who had hoped these injections would offer long-term relief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cWith more than two million Australians affected by knee joint arthritis, there is clearly a need for new therapies to reduce symptoms and improve the structure of the knee,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUnfortunately, the particular treatment trialled in this study, whilst widely used and typically expensive, appears to be ineffective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur research however has added to our understanding of this type of treatment and will ensure the latest recommendations are backed by high-quality evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur current advice encourages people with knee osteoarthritis to adopt a consistent exercise program and lose weight if they are above a healthy weight range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe know that by reducing your body weight by just 10 per cent, you can reduce your knee pain by a remarkable 50 per cent.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
The research paper has been published in one of the world\u2019s leading medical journals, the Journal of the American Medical Association. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1972,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"research-group-tax":[],"primary-research-area":[],"class_list":["post-1971","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thumb_Blog_Plasma-knee-injection_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thumb_Blog_Plasma-knee-injection_w550_h380_fcrop-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thumb_Blog_Plasma-knee-injection_w550_h380_fcrop-300x207.webp",300,207,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thumb_Blog_Plasma-knee-injection_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false],"large":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thumb_Blog_Plasma-knee-injection_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thumb_Blog_Plasma-knee-injection_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thumb_Blog_Plasma-knee-injection_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"ict-wordpress-support@sydney.edu.au","author_link":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/author\/ict-wordpress-supportsydney-edu-au\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"In what will be disappointing news for many, a large-scale clinical trial has found platelet-rich plasma injections for those with osteoarthritis knee pain are no better than a placebo. This type of injection has become an increasingly popular form of treatment for knee joint arthritis, despite its prohibitive cost at around $2,000 per injection. Plasma…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/1971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/1971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5242,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/1971\/revisions\/5242"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1971"},{"taxonomy":"research-group-tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-group-tax?post=1971"},{"taxonomy":"primary-research-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/primary-research-area?post=1971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}