If you’ve had a cortisone shot for shoulder pain, there’s a good chance it worked. For a while. Then the pain came back, maybe worse than before, and you found yourself wondering whether to get another one. The short answer is: probably not, and here’s why.
What cortisone actually does
Cortisone is an anti-inflammatory. It’s very good at reducing inflammation quickly. The problem is that rotator cuff tendinopathy, especially when it’s been around for more than a few months, isn’t primarily an inflammatory condition. What was called tendinitis is now understood to be tendinosis in most chronic cases, a degenerative process. You can’t anti-inflame your way out of degeneration.
The repeated injection problem
Repeated cortisone injections into a tendon can weaken the tissue over time. Studies have shown that multiple injections increase the risk of tendon rupture and may impair the structural integrity of the cuff. The shot that helps you feel better in the short term may be making the underlying tissue problem worse.
What StemWave does instead
StemWave focused shockwave therapy triggers a controlled cellular level reaction that restarts the healing process. The focused acoustic wave causes a shift in macrophage activity from the pro-inflammatory M1 type to the anti-inflammatory M2 type. The wave also stimulates angiogenesis and recruits mesenchymal stem cells. It restarts the healing process that chronic tendon tissue has stopped doing on its own.
We layer StemWave alongside PT rather than using it as a standalone fix. PT addresses the mechanics that created the overload. StemWave addresses the tissue damage that resulted.
If you’ve been cycling through cortisone shots for shoulder pain, come in and we’ll tell you honestly whether StemWave makes sense for your situation.
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Dr. Jonny Blue is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and founder of Land and Sea Physical Therapy in Oceanside, CA. He specializes in orthopedic PT, root cause methodology, and helping active adults in North County San Diego get back to the activities they love without surgery or pain medication.