Sports and Athletic Injury

Sports injuries can affect muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, cartilage, and joints. They may happen suddenly during activity or develop gradually from repetitive movement, training demands, or incomplete recovery. Common examples include tendon injuries, ligament sprains or tears, muscle strains, cartilage injuries, stress injuries, and overuse conditions such as tennis elbow. The right treatment depends on the specific injury, its severity, a person’s activity level, and their goals for recovery.

Common Symptoms

A major injury, deformity, inability to bear weight, sudden weakness, or rapidly increasing swelling should be evaluated promptly.

Treatment is based on the type and severity of injury, imaging findings, training demands, and overall health. Many sports injuries improve with appropriate rehabilitation and a gradual return to activity.

Standard Treatment Categories

• Rest and activity modification: Temporarily reducing painful activity can help protect injured tissue during recovery.
• Physical therapy and rehabilitation: A guided program may improve strength, mobility, balance, movement patterns, and return-to-sport readiness.
• Medication: Anti-inflammatory medication or other pain-management options may be considered when appropriate.
• Bracing or supportive care: Braces, taping, orthotics, or other supports may help during recovery.
• Injections or procedures: Some people may discuss corticosteroid injections, PRP, or other procedures for persistent symptoms.
• Orthopedic or surgical evaluation: Surgery may be considered for certain fractures, full-thickness tears, joint instability, or injuries that do not improve with appropriate nonsurgical care.

Stem cell therapy for sports injuries and platelet-rich plasma, or PRP, are being studied because injectable biologic approaches may influence inflammation and the environment around injured tendons, ligaments, muscles, cartilage, and joints.

What Researchers Are Studying

• Influence inflammatory signaling around injured tissue
• Support the tissue environment within tendons, ligaments, muscles, cartilage, or joints
• Be delivered safely and feasibly to the affected area
• Improve pain, function, return to activity, or other patient-reported outcomes

PRP and cell-based products are distinct approaches, and their preparation and delivery can vary. Results from one product, injury type, injection protocol, surgical procedure, or rehabilitation plan should not be assumed to apply to another.

Note: Regenerative therapies for sports injuries are not FDA-approved and are investigational. Research findings do not guarantee individual results.

How Stem Cell Therapy for Sports Injuries Is Being Studied

Research relevant to sports injuries includes studies of tendon and ligament conditions, cartilage defects, and knee osteoarthritis. These conditions are not interchangeable, and results from one condition may not apply to another. Cell-based therapies are being studied using different cell sources, doses, delivery methods, and combinations with surgery or rehabilitation. PRP is prepared from a person’s own blood and contains platelets and signaling proteins. It has been studied in several tendon conditions, including lateral epicondylitis, or tennis elbow. PRP injection, cell-based injection, and MSC-based surgical implantation are different approaches and should be interpreted separately. This work is helping guide continued research on stem cell treatment for sports injuries and other regenerative medicine for musculoskeletal injuries approaches.

2025: Placenta-Derived MSCs Reported One-Year Knee Symptom Improvements

Effectiveness and Safety of Multiple Injections of Human Placenta-Derived MSCs for Knee Osteoarthritis: A Nonrandomized Phase I Trial — Read Study

This phase I study enrolled 26 people with moderate knee osteoarthritis. Participants received either hyaluronic acid alone or three injections of placenta-derived mesenchymal stromal cells, or MSCs, combined with hyaluronic acid. The MSC group reported improved pain and function scores at six and 12 months. No serious adverse events were reported, although temporary pain, swelling, or synovitis occurred after some injections. These findings add to early research on repeated placenta-derived MSC treatment for knee osteoarthritis.

2021: UC-MSC Implantation Reported Cartilage and Function Findings for Knee Defects

Allogeneic Umbilical Cord Blood-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cell Implantation Versus Microfracture for Large, Full-Thickness Cartilage Defects in Older Patients — Read Study

This multicenter randomized trial compared an umbilical-cord-blood-derived MSC and hyaluronate implant with microfracture surgery for large, full-thickness knee cartilage defects. At 48 weeks, 97.7% of people in the MSC-implant group improved by at least one cartilage-repair grade, compared with 71.7% in the microfracture group. At three to five years, the MSC-implant group also reported greater improvement in pain and knee-function scores, with similar adverse events between groups.

2020: Review Examined MSC Research for Tendon and Ligament Injuries

Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Treatment of Tendon and Ligament Injuries: Clinical Evidence — Read Study

This review examined available clinical research on MSC-based treatment for tendon and ligament injuries. The studies included different injury types, cell sources, delivery methods, and rehabilitation plans. The review described reported changes in pain, function, and imaging outcomes across several tendon and ligament conditions, and highlighted the need for continued clinical research to refine treatment protocols.

2019: Repeated UC-MSC Dosing Reported Greater Knee Pain and Function Improvements

Umbilical Cord-Derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells for Knee Osteoarthritis: Repeated MSC Dosing Is Superior to a Single MSC Dose and to Hyaluronic Acid in a Controlled Randomized Phase I/II Trial — Read Study

This randomized phase I/II trial compared hyaluronic acid, one injection of umbilical-cord-derived MSCs, and two MSC injections given six months apart in people with knee osteoarthritis. At one year, the repeated-dose MSC group showed greater improvement in pain and overall WOMAC scores than the hyaluronic-acid group, with no serious adverse events reported.

2019: PRP Reported Better Six-Month Pain and Function Outcomes for Tennis Elbow

Comparison of Platelet-Rich Plasma and Corticosteroids in the Management of Lateral Epicondylitis: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials — Read Study

This meta-analysis included seven randomized trials involving more than 500 people with lateral epicondylitis, also called tennis elbow. At six months, PRP injections were associated with better pain scores and arm function than corticosteroid injections, adding to research on PRP as a potential option for longer-term symptom and function improvement in people with tennis elbow.