Common Causes of Shoulder Pain and What Orthobiologics Can Do About It.

Shoulder pain, weakness, and stiffness can make it challenging to carry out everyday tasks like driving a car, brushing your teeth, and even reaching for something on a shelf. If you suffer from chronic shoulder pain or have experienced a shoulder injury, you might wonder about the cause and your treatment options. At Texas Orthobiologics, we will make the diagnosis and also give you all your treatment options - from medications to therapy to regenerative medicine, or even surgical options.

Common causes of shoulder pain

Figuring out what’s wrong with your painful shoulder is the first step in addressing the issue.  If you have an ongoing problem with your shoulder that is causing you pain and restricting your activities, here are some of the most common culprits:

• Rotator cuff tears — Just like it sounds, this is either a partial or full tear of the rotator cuff tendon.
• Shoulder impingement syndrome — When your rotator cuff muscles, tendons and bursa become inflamed, it can lead to pain with shoulder motion, especially with overhead motion.
• Frozen shoulder — Also called adhesive capsulitis, frozen shoulder is a painful condition where the shoulder is very inflamed and loses motion and strength.
• Shoulder osteoarthritis — Osteoarthritis is characterized by deterioration of the smooth articular cartilage in your shoulder joints.

Orthobiologics for shoulder pain

If you suffer from shoulder pain, you likely have reduced function and are looking for solutions. The good news is that orthobiologics can help reduce pain and improve shoulder function.

Orthobiologics are biological drugs made from your body’s own blood or bone marrow or adipose tissue. They are generally administered through injections, making them a minimally invasive option to address shoulder pain. Some of the different types of orthobiologics that can be used for shoulder pain include:

• Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) — Following a shoulder injury, activation of the platelets is a vital part of the natural healing process. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is an orthobiologic therapy with high concentrations of platelets. To perform a PRP injection, your physician will place a sample of your blood into a centrifuge to separate the PRP, which is then injected into the area that requires healing.
• Bone Marrow Concentrate (BMC/BMAC) — Your bone marrow contains two types of stem cells along with many proteins and cytokines that are active in the body’s healing processes.  By doing a small bone marrow aspiration and then concentrating the marrow, we can create a very powerful injectable orthobiologic that has been shown in many clinical studies to be useful in reducing pain and promoting healing for many orthopedic conditions.

If you haven’t responded well to conservative treatment, you may be a candidate for orthobiologics for shoulder pain. Dr. Buford and Texas Orthobiologics specialize in helping patients obtain pain relief and improved functioning. Dr. Buford is an orthopedic surgeon and is the authority on orthobiologics in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Contact us today for an appointment to find out if you are a candidate for this groundbreaking therapy.