Shoulder Arthritis Treatment

Arthritis in the shoulder is a common malady among seniors. After years of constant motion, your joints just wear down, leading to arthritis shoulder pain. Shoulder arthritis treatment and recovery can sometimes be just as debilitating, keeping you from your normal activities for extended periods of time. Arthritis in shoulder joints, however, may qualify you for exciting new treatments with stem cell therapy.

One of the many drawbacks of aging is joint deterioration. As you age, your risk of arthritis increases. And arthritis is one of the leading causes of disability. But you don’t have to be older to endure the pain and physical limitations of arthritis. Injury can lead to arthritis at any age.

Arthritis in shoulder joints affects your range of motion and can keep you from completing simple everyday tasks. Thanks to regenerative medicine, there are now more options available to you than just coping with your arthritis shoulder pain or having extensive surgery.

Various Forms of Arthritis in the Shoulder

While osteoarthritis is extremely common is shoulder joints, it’s not the only type of arthritis that can affect your shoulder. Your shoulder has more mobility than any of your other joints. This shallow ball-and-socket joint receives so much wear and tear that it has a higher potential to lose stability as you get older. Arthritis in shoulder joints damages:

• Muscles
• Tendons
• Ligaments
• Cartilage

Your symptoms normally include arthritis shoulder pain and a limited range of motion. Several types of shoulder arthritis have been identified:

• Osteoarthritis is the classic form of wear-and-tear arthritis. It’s also the most common. Osteoarthritis in the shoulder is the result of your joint breaking down. This happens with both age and injury. It’s noticeable because it makes your shoulder stiff, tender and painful.
• Rheumatoid Arthritis. If you’re experiencing more than just pain and discomfort, maybe you’ve got rheumatoid arthritis. It’s a chronic inflammatory disorder that can trick your own immune system into attacking your joints. Rheumatoid arthritis does permanent damage if not treated. In your shoulder, it erodes your bones and leads to shoulder joint deformity over time. Aside from pain and swelling, rheumatoid arthritis can also cause fatigue and weight loss.
• Post-Traumatic Arthritis. You can develop arthritis in the shoulder following an injury. Since shoulder instability plays a large role in shoulder injuries, fractures and dislocations may eventually result in post-traumatic arthritis. Other types of sporting injuries and accidents can also lead to post-traumatic arthritis in shoulder joints. This condition can cause fluid build-up in your shoulder, pain and swelling.
• Avascular Necrosis. This condition occurs when blood can’t reach your humerus bone (the long bone of your upper arm). Since your blood feeds your tissues, your shoulder starts to die. Avascular necrosis can be caused by dislocations, bone fractures, steroid abuse or alcohol dependency. This is a progressive condition that worsens with time.
• Rotator Cuff Tear Arthropathy. Your rotator cuff is the group of muscles and ligaments that connects your arm and shoulder blade. Rotator cuff injuries are common. The condition leads to a type of arthritis called rotator cuff arthropathy. A rotator cuff tear is the usual cause for this condition. Symptoms include intense pain and weakness.

Shoulder Arthritis Treatment Choices

Traditional treatments for arthritis in the shoulder were limited until recently, when regenerative therapies started gaining acceptance. Traditional therapies offered little in the way of lasting relief from chronic arthritis shoulder pain. Most shoulder arthritis treatments consisted of:

• Lifestyle changes
• Anti-inflammatory and pain medications
• Physical therapy
• Rest
• Corticosteroid injections
• Surgery

Arthritis symptoms worsen with time. Even after a surgical procedure, you’re likely to have some degree of pain. Shoulder replacement surgery has associated risks. In some cases, the replacement joint isn’t up to the task. As difficult as it is to replace a shoulder, it’s even harder to replace a failed shoulder replacement.

Regenerative Therapy Works

Stem cell therapy is a safe, minimally invasive, outpatient procedure that’s changing the entire concept of arthritis shoulder pain. Whether your pain is new or a familiar companion, stem cell injections are making a difference in people’s quality of life around the world.

Regenerative therapy does what it says. It regenerates deteriorated and injured tissues, allowing your body to heal itself. These results are achieved with a combination therapy of stem cells and platelet rich plasma.

It’s All Natural Healing

The stem cells used for this therapy are taken from your own bone marrow. And the platelet rich plasma is drawn from your own blood. This virtually eliminates any risk of rejection or contamination.

Your body still uses stem cells to repair itself. Stem cells contain growth factors that encourage healing. And because they are unformed and immature, they’re able to turn into other types of cells. This allows a fresh stem cell to replace the old or damaged shoulder cell.

Stem Cells for Shoulder Arthritis

Arthritis in shoulder joints is a condition that causes swelling, stiffness, pain and degeneration of your joints. The failure of traditional shoulder arthritis treatments is — while they do manage to slow the process and mask your pain —they’re not able to heal the existing damage.

Stem cell therapy  treats and repairs the damage of arthritis in the shoulder from the inside out. It also works on osteoarthritis. Swelling is reduced. Bones, cartilage and soft tissue can be regenerated. The procedure involves extracting some bone marrow, separating your stem cells from the rest of the marrow and injecting them directly into the area of your shoulder affected by arthritis.

It’s Not Right for Everybody

If you’re interested in living a life without arthritis shoulder pain, then you should take the time to speak with your stem cell specialist in NYC to find out if you’re a candidate. Certain conditions may make you a poor candidate for regenerative therapy, such as:

• You haven’t been out of remission for at least five years following a bout with blood-borne cancer.
• You have other types of blood-borne disease.
• You have any form of active infection.
• You’ve been diagnosed with multiple medical issues.