Shoulder pain can come from a wide variety of sources, from injuries causing rotator cuff tears and ligament instability to long-term conditions like osteoarthritis that cause joint degeneration over time. Regardless of the source of your pain, orthopedic conditions of the shoulder can become debilitating if you leave them unaddressed, eventually having a significant impact on your overall quality of life. Because your shoulder is a particularly mobile joint, you rely on it for a huge number of tasks every day, including your ability to move your hands. You could not only lose the ability to do what you love to do, but also what you need to do -- severe and untreated shoulder conditions can get in the way of daily tasks such as personal hygiene, getting dressed in the morning, and getting restful sleep at night.
If you’re living with shoulder pain or a loss of shoulder mobility, the orthobiologic solutions offered by Dr. Trevor Turner at The Genomic Athlete may be able to help. Using state-of-the-art technology and a committed minimally-invasive approach, Dr. Turner has been able to reduce his patients’ need for orthopedic shoulder surgery by 50% using regenerative techniques such as stem cell injections and platelet rich plasma injections.
No one should have to stop doing what they love due to chronic shoulder pain. If you’re curious about the orthobiologics offered by the best orthobiologics specialist in Miami, keep reading to learn more. Don’t hesitate to reach out to Dr. Turner with any further questions. If you’re ready to try regenerative medicine and find relief with the least invasive treatment possible, don’t hesitate -- reach out to The Genomic Athlete and schedule your first consultation appointment today.
Your journey toward relief and long-term recovery from shoulder pain begins with a diagnosis. Dr. Turner’s musculoskeletal assessment process often uses dynamic ultrasound scans to provide a more accurate, comfortable and cost-effective diagnosis than a traditional MRI. In addition, this superior diagnostic tool comes at a fraction of the cost of conventional diagnostic techniques.
Unlike MRI, an ultrasound scan gives a moving picture of the tendons outside your shoulders. This allows Dr. Turner to see the biceps tendon and rotator cuff in great detail, and to spot other irregularities that may be missed using traditional diagnostic technology.. This process often takes just 3-4 minutes and costs 90% less than a typical MRI.
While ultrasound is an incredible tool, orthopedic conditions of the shoulder can involve the bone as well as the tendons and ligaments. That’s why Dr. Turner employs a fluoroscopic exam in conjunction with ultrasound for specific injuries. A fluoroscopic exam involves an x-ray which revolves around your entire body, allowing Dr. Turner to address the areas of your shoulder inside of the joint that ultrasound cannot always see in isolation.
Additionally, Dr. Turner uses fluoroscopy during orthobiologic procedures involving bone marrow cells. This allows for greater accuracy and a significantly smaller margin of error when placing cells into the bones inside your shoulder.
One of the most commonly injured areas of the shoulder is the rotator cuff, and many patients believe they’ll need painful, costly surgery to repair their tissue that will keep them sidelined for months. For patients with rotator cuff tendinosis and some labral tears, Dr. Trevor Turner strongly recommends platelet rich plasma (PRP) therapy as a potential alternative to extensive rotator cuff surgery.
Platelet rich plasma therapy works by using your own growth factors to stimulate your body’s natural foundation for recovery. Dr. Turner will draw your blood, then send it to the laboratory, where a centrifuge will separate the platelets from the plasma. Dr. Turner will then reinject that plasma into your shoulder at the affected site. This will give your shoulder a better chance for long-term recovery, and it can help reduce inflammation to provide relief from shoulder pain. Our onsite lab and Greyledge Biotech technician also allow us the unique ability to collect data regarding your outcomes, helping us to distinguish what is indicated and not indicated by your blood draw and provide a fully customized PRP treatment experience.
If you’d like to learn more about the platelet rich plasma injection process for rotator cuff injuries and other orthopedic conditions of the shoulder, Dr. Turner is happy to discuss your questions and concerns with you. If you’re ready to try PRP therapy for yourself, don’t wait. Reach out and schedule your first consultative appointment with us today.
For patients with rotator cuff tears less than 1 cm and some larger labral tears, Dr. Trevor Turner strongly recommends stem cell (BMAC) therapy as a potential alternative to extensive rotator cuff surgery. For patients with larger tears, BMAC can be combined with rotator cuff surgery to reduce the high retear rate down to only 13% over a 10 year period!
Adult “Stem Cells” from bone marrow are the type we use to treat orthopedic injuries. The name was first coined by Dr. Arnold Caplan in 1991 “Mesenchymal Stem Cells” or MSCs for short. The MSCs from bone marrow act like a powerful drug store in a tiny package. These stem cells release powerful signals that help the body provide anti-inflammatory effects, send positive signals to the immune system, stop cell death, and even improve blood flow.
While only a small percentage of bone marrow has MSCs, stem cells remain in higher numbers as we age in the back of the hip bone (pelvis). After numbing a patient so they do not feel any pain, Dr. Turner takes these cells from the hip, and an experienced technician sorts out the unwanted material to get the maximum number of MSCs possible in a sterile processing laboratory. Every sample is then carefully analyzed for high quality before being delivered back into the patient, which is critical to ensuring that our patients have the best long term outcomes.
Next, Dr. Turner uses a combination of sound waves (ultrasound) and X-rays (fluoroscopy) to very precisely guide your own stem cells back into the area of injury in a same day procedure. We call this FDA-compliant procedure Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate or BMAC for short.
Some of the most common shoulder conditions Dr. Turner sees at his practice include:
Yes! Dr. Turner is also a prolotherapy specialist. Prolotherapy can be used to relieve pain in the joints and ligaments in the shoulder, and it works by injecting a small, harmless amount of an irritating substance into the affected area. This irritant will cause a controlled type of inflammation in your shoulder, and once this inflammation is reduced, your pain will be relieved, and your body’s natural healing process will be stimulated. If you’d like to learn more about prolotherapy for your shoulder pain, reach out to Dr. Turner today.
While Dr. Turner strongly recommends other types of non-invasive therapies to treat injuries and conditions of the shoulder for long-term results, he is capable of providing steroid injections as part of his practice.
While not all orthobiologic procedures require physical therapy afterwards, Dr. Turner has often seen patients who get PRP or stem cell therapy have increased success with rehabilitation in the weeks after their treatment even when it was difficult beforehand. Physical therapy can be a vital, impossible-to-skip part of your recovery from whatever condition or injury brought you to Dr. Turner’s office in the first place. Dr. Turner’s practice is proud to stand with our patients through every step of their recovery, and we’re proud to offer cutting-edge rehab and prehab therapies. For patients who travel for treatment, ask about our digital rehab solution with Amp Recover. To learn more about our physical therapy support capabilities, reach out to Dr. Turner.