PRP Therapy for Knee Pain in Charlotte, NC
Non-surgical, ultrasound-guided PRP injections for knee osteoarthritis, meniscus tears, bursitis, and patellar tendinitis, performed by NeoGenix's board-certified physicians in Charlotte.
Why patients choose NeoGenix
The Knee PRP Therapy Process
- Source: Autologous (from you)
- Knee Conditions We Treat: Arthritis, meniscus injuries, tendonitis, and ligament sprains/strains
- Stage of Arthritis or Injury: Mild to less moderate
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is among the fastest-growing areas in regenerative medicine. It utilizes the body's own healing components to boost tissue healing. PRP therapy uses a large number of autologous platelets in the patient's plasma. The platelets are injected into or directly applied to the tissue.
Knee PRP From a Clinic That Only Does Regenerative Medicine
PRP (Platelet-Rich Plasma) or SuperShot® PRP treatment is an effective option to help patients suffering from knee pain caused by mild to moderate injury or degeneration of the cartilage, meniscus, bursa, ligaments or tendons of the knee. For more moderate to severe conditions, bone marrow and/or adipose treatment may be required instead.
Unlike other facilities offering PRP as an add-on service to a pre-existing clinic specializing in something else, NeoGenix only focuses on regenerative medicine. All knee treatments offered at NeoGenix are performed under guided imaging by a board-certified doctor. Patients receive a thorough examination, diagnostic imaging, and medical history review by a doctor at NeoGenix prior to any treatment to confirm they are a good candidate.
What Knee Conditions Does PRP Treat?
Knee Osteoarthritis
A degenerative joint disease where the protective cartilage cushioning the knee wears down over time, causing pain, stiffness, grinding, swelling and instability.
Meniscus Injuries
A common knee injury that damages the rubbery, C-shaped cartilage that acts as a shock absorber between your thigh bone and shin bone, causing pain, swelling, instability and locking. Mechanical issues like locking will require surgery.
Patellar Tendonitis
Also known as Jumper's Knee, an overuse injury that causes inflammation and pain in the tendon connecting your kneecap to your shinbone.
Patellar Chondromalacia
The softening and breakdown of the cartilage on the underside of your kneecap, which causes dull pain and stiffness in the front of the knee, often aggravated by stairs, squatting and kneeling.
Knee Bursitis
Inflammation of one or more small, fluid-filled sacs (bursae) that cushion and reduce friction in the knee joint, causing pain, stiffness, swelling, warmth and tenderness.
MCL, LCL and PCL Sprains and Strains
Partial ligament injuries that cause instability and pain in the knee.
IT Band Syndrome
An overuse injury that causes pain on the outer side of the knee or hip due to compression or irritation of the thick band of tissue running down the outside of the leg.
Osgood-Schlatter
A common knee condition that causes pain, swelling, and a tender bump just below the kneecap in growing children and teenagers.
Does the Severity of Your Arthritis Affect the Efficacy of PRP?
Yes. PRP is an excellent treatment option for mild to less moderate arthritis and meniscus issues. The joint spacing on your X-ray is a simple way to determine if PRP is the right option for you. Typically, PRP is most effective, with longer-term pain relief and improved function, when injecting KL1 and KL2 knees.
It is important to remember that PRP does not contain stem cells, only growth factors. Therefore, it does not have the ability to regrow cartilage or provide long-term relief in KL3 and KL4 knees.
When Does Knee Pain or Arthritis Require Stem Cell Therapy Instead of PRP?
Injecting PRP into moderate to severe arthritic joints and meniscus tears is simply not a strong enough option. For those cases, we recommend stem cell therapy to treat your knee. On the Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) grading system, KL3 and KL4 knees that have advanced wear or are bone-on-bone require stem cells from your bone marrow and/or adipose (fat) tissue to help heal and repair the damaged cartilage and tissue. Joint spacing once again is the key. As long as your knee is not completely bone-on-bone, stem cell therapy may be able to save your knee from ever needing a knee replacement.
How the PRP Procedure Works
The Blood Draw
Professor Bansal's groundbreaking study demonstrated that a targeted dose of approximately 10 billion platelets in 8 mL of PRP is critical for achieving long-term clinical efficacy. A minimum of 120 mL of blood must be drawn to achieve the proper platelet counts. If that is not happening, you are not receiving high-dose PRP. Our nurse will draw your blood, then you will wait approximately 45 minutes for your PRP to be prepared.
Be sure to drink plenty of water the day of your PRP procedure to make the blood draw go more smoothly.
The Centrifuge
This is the second critical step to creating high-dose PRP. Higher dosing leads to better results. We believe in utilizing cutting-edge innovation to produce the best results for our patients. To create our high-dose PRP, our inventors created a desktop version of what blood banks and the American Red Cross use, and nobody knows how to generate high platelet counts for patients in need better than they do. Our nurses spend about 45 minutes processing your platelets by hand in between each spin in the centrifuge machine. You can be assured that the quality, safety, and effectiveness of our treatments are second to none. We are very proud of that.
Our PRP centrifuge system produces a much higher level of platelets than Orthopedic and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) clinics using easy-to-operate centrifuge machines that anyone can run by just pressing a button. The major flaw of these machines is that they are not capable of separating unwanted red blood cells when they are programmed to produce a higher platelet count. Too many red blood cells in a PRP injection is not outright toxic, but "red cell contamination" can increase post-injection pain and inflammation while lowering the treatment's overall effectiveness.
The NeoGenix Difference: Adding Autologous Exosomes to PRP = SuperShot® PRP
Most legitimate centrifuge machines require 2 spins: the first to separate the red blood cells and the second to separate the platelets from the plasma. After the second spin, most clinics simply throw that plasma away. Not at NeoGenix. We add the SuperShot® PRP solution to the remaining plasma and spin it in the centrifuge machine a 3rd time. In doing so, we are adding hundreds of billions of exosomes to your PRP. Exosomes are tiny messenger particles released by cells to help reduce joint inflammation and signal damaged knee tissues to repair themselves. In head-to-head lab testing with leading off-the-shelf exosome donor tissue products, SuperShot® PRP was shown to have 166 times more exosomes (see lab results).
A 2-year study comparing SuperShot® PRP to regular PRP showed that SuperShot® PRP created significantly better patient outcomes with longer-lasting results (see the study).
Why Image-Guided Injections Matter
All PRP injections are performed under ultrasound guidance by our board-certified medical doctors to ensure the platelets are delivered safely to the exact area of injury.
Recovery and What to Expect
1 to 2 weeks after
We highly recommend physical therapy or some sort of rehab protocol 1 to 2 weeks after your PRP injection to enhance the results. Remember, we are helping to heal your knee joint internally with the PRP. If you have muscle weakness or compensation issues around your knee, a rehab professional must correct those biomechanical limitations to maximize your results.
When PRP is used to treat the right conditions, we expect you to receive years of long-lasting relief from your injection.
PRP vs. Cortisone vs. Hyaluronic Acid (Gel) Shots
In the traditional medical model, cortisone and hyaluronic acid (HA) or gel shot injections are commonly the first options offered by Orthopedic doctors or PM&R pain doctors.
Cortisone Shots
Cortisone shots have been well studied. They can provide some short-term relief by turning off your pain receptors and helping with inflammation. They are only masking the pain and are doing nothing to actually heal your injury. Long-term, repeated use of cortisone is shown to damage your joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments over time (see study).
Hyaluronic Acid (Gel) Shots
Like cortisone, HA injections are typically covered by insurance. They are a synthetic version of HA created from rooster comb, usually given in a 1 to 5 shot sequence, once a week depending on your insurance. Also like cortisone, they only mask the pain. HA provides a temporary cushion in your knee joint that usually absorbs back into your body in 4 to 6 months. HA is currently only FDA approved to treat knee OA and is considered off-label in any other joint.
PRP Therapy
Nowadays, almost every Orthopedic doctor offers some version of PRP. Unlike cortisone and HA injections, PRP can actually heal and repair the damaged cartilage and tissue in your knee joint.
Studies now show that PRP is much safer and provides much better long-term results when compared to cortisone and HA injections into your knee joint (see study).
| Feature | PRP Therapy | Cortisone Injections | Hyaluronic Acid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost to Patient | Low to moderate | Low | Low |
| Cost to Insurance | None | Low | Low |
| Tissue Regeneration | Yes | No | No |
| Natural Healing | Yes | No | No |
| Recovery Time | Less than a week | 1 to 2 days | 1 to 2 days |
| Start to See Improvement | 3 to 6 weeks | Within a week | Within a week |
| Duration of Improvement | Potentially years | Weeks to months | 4 to 6 months |
| Complications and Risks | Highly unlikely | Causes joint degeneration | Allergic reactions |
Cari Canceled Her Knee Replacement
I treated Cari's knee with a SuperShot® PRP procedure on July 27, 2026, after she had experienced two years of ongoing pain and was preparing for knee replacement surgery at 78 years old. Her procedure was pain-free, and she experienced a quick recovery. Cari was so pleased with her results that she decided to cancel her surgery and has already referred a relative to come have the same treatment for his back. I'm grateful she found NeoGenix and trusted us with her care.
Dr. AltizerJames Altizer, M.D.
Individual results may vary.
Find Out If Knee PRP Is Right for You
A NeoGenix doctor will examine your knee, review your imaging and history, and give you an honest assessment of whether PRP, SuperShot® PRP or stem cell therapy fits your condition.
Mon to Thu 9am to 5pm · Fri 9am to 12pm
Knee PRP FAQs
Does PRP regrow knee cartilage?
How long does knee PRP last?
Is my knee arthritis too advanced for PRP?
Should I get PRP or a cortisone shot?
How soon can I walk normally again after a knee PRP injection?
Does insurance cover knee PRP?
How long before a knee PRP injection starts to work?
Can knee PRP help avoid a knee replacement?
How many injections of PRP will I need into my knee?
Are PRP injections into your knee painful?
What is the success rate of knee PRP?
Request Your FREE Consultation
Thank you for your interest in NeoGenix. For more information, or to schedule a FREE consultation, please call or text us at 704-727-6551 or simply fill out the form below and a NeoGenix team member will respond as soon as possible.
Our Stem Cell Treatment in Charlotte, NC is EFFECTIVE
- Based on thousands of stem cell and growth factor procedures performed by Dr. Altizer since January of 2016, over 94% of patients have subjectively, objectively, and through activities of daily living reported the procedure was successful.
- The success of the procedure was determined by the patient achieving at least a 50% or more overall improvement with lasting results.
- When asked after 1 year what their overall improvement was, patients have subjectively, objectively, and through activities of daily living reported an average overall improvement of between 83-84%.