If you are dealing with joint or tendon pain, there is a good chance it is one of these four — which make up most of my regenerative medicine practice.
Rotator cuff pain is probably my most common complaint: shoulder pain with overhead activity — a golf swing, a tennis serve, reaching into a cabinet — and pain that disrupts sleep at night. Most of the time we are talking about tendinopathy or a partial-thickness tear, not a complete rupture. Mild cases often respond well to PRP. More significant partial tears sometimes benefit from cell-based treatment with BMAC. And full-thickness tears, where the tendon has actually pulled away from the bone, may need surgical repair. The imaging tells us which category we are in.
Knee osteoarthritis comes with a particular frustration, because the word "arthritis" gets used so loosely. Being told "you have some arthritis" does not tell you much — mild cartilage wear and bone-on-bone arthritis are completely different situations with completely different realistic options. For patients with mild-to-moderate arthritis who are still active, biologics can meaningfully reduce pain and in many cases delay or help avoid a knee replacement for years. For advanced bone-on-bone arthritis, biologics alone may be less likely to be enough, and I will tell you that honestly rather than push a treatment unlikely to hold up. PRP, BMAC and microfragmented fat injection are all nonsurgical options that may reduce pain and delay the need to consider replacement surgery
Tennis elbow — better known as lateral epicondylitis — has a frustrating habit of outlasting rest, bracing, and anti-inflammatories. This is mostly because that part of the tendon has relatively poor blood supply, which makes it slow to heal on its own. PRP is generally my go-to for these cases, often paired with focused shockwave therapy for more stubborn, longer-standing cases. This is actually one of the conditions that responds most reliably to regenerative treatment in my experience. Recent studies comparing PRP to steroid injection indicate steroids work faster but don't last long. PRP takes longer to respond but has a more durable response and is a natural treatment since it is your own plasma.
Hip pain — specifically pain on the outside of the hip in the gluteus tendons — is the one that gets misdiagnosed most often. Pain that is worse with walking, stairs, or lying on that side gets labeled "bursitis" constantly, when very often the real issue is the abductor tendons themselves, not the bursa at all. That distinction matters, because the treatment is completely different depending on which one it actually is. Using ultrasound to look directly at the tendon, rather than treating based on the location of the pain alone, is how we figure out which one we are dealing with. Shockwave therapy and PRP are helpful treatment options for this condition.
If any of these sound familiar, the first step is a real diagnosis — not a guess based on symptoms. Book a consultation to discuss and we will look at your exam and imaging together.