Almost everyone experiences shoulder pain at some point. While it might seem like simple muscle soreness or fatigue that will resolve over time, if shoulder pain persists for an extended period, conditions such as a rotator cuff tear should be considered, and prompt examination and diagnosis are recommended. The shoulder is the only part of our body capable of 360-degree rotation. The muscles needed for this rotation are the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, subscapularis, and teres minor — four muscles collectively called the rotator cuff.
Above the rotator cuff is the acromion bone. A bursa between the acromion and muscles reduces friction and enables smooth joint movement, protecting the shoulder. However, when trauma or overuse causes degenerative changes, inflammation develops in the bursa and rotator cuff, weakening muscles and tendons. This leads to impingement syndrome as the muscles and acromion collide, which can also damage ligaments. A torn rotator cuff doesn't automatically mean surgery is needed.
Factors such as the patient's age, symptoms, and occupation must be considered, along with imaging studies like MRI and ultrasound to confirm the extent of the tear before determining the treatment approach. Most early-stage rotator cuff tear treatment focuses on pain reduction and restoring range of motion, starting with progressive strengthening exercises. Conventional prolotherapy can also be considered — such as ligament strengthening and regeneration injections. These treatments can show good results for small partial rotator cuff tears. However, some rotator cuff tears fall in a gray area. Cases where the tear is too small for surgery but the tear pattern is unfavorable for injection therapy alone. Or cases where injection therapy has been tried but the tear doesn't improve and pain returns. In such situations, you may have been told to wait until the partial tear becomes a complete tear and then have surgery. But with bone marrow stimulation therapy, you don't need to wait for a complete tear before having surgery — partial rotator cuff tears can be sufficiently treated to maintain a healthy shoulder. This is bone marrow stimulation regeneration therapy — treating the rotator cuff tendon using your body's own natural resources.
Bone marrow stimulation involves identifying the exact location of a rotator cuff tear under ultrasound guidance, then creating multiple small holes in the shoulder bone. Growth cells then emerge from these holes — simply put, it's a treatment that uses your body's own stem cells to regenerate and heal damaged tendons. The key to bone marrow stimulation for rotator cuff tears is precisely targeting the torn area and optimizing the amount of bone marrow stimulation. Accurately locating the site with ultrasound is critical, and creating uniformly deep holes to guide bone marrow release is essential.
After bone marrow stimulation, if additional prolotherapy injections are administered based on the patient's specific tear condition, near-normal recovery of the previously torn area can be observed. Don't wait for a complete tear before having surgery — use bone marrow stimulation to restore your shoulder to health using your body's own resources.
