Orthobiologics: Nonsurgical Partial-Thickness Rotator Cuff Repairs Are Possible

Say you were going to do a rotator cuff repair on a partial thickness rotator cuff tear. The way that that works is you come to your regular doctor, you have a partial thickness rotator cuff tear, which doesn't necessarily always need surgery. But if it continues to be symptomatic, then oftentimes we'll recommend that your normal treatment plan through a normal orthopedic office would be you'd come in, you'd be evaluated by your orthopedic surgeon, he'd notice that you don't have a full thickness rotator cuff tear, so you're a candidate for therapy. So then we start some therapy. Maybe we give you a steroid injection, which is terrible because steroid damages our tissue, but steroid does help a lot with the symptoms. So typically your treatment would be a steroid injection and then physical therapy for up to three months. If the physical therapy then doesn't necessarily work or you continue to have significant pain, you come back to your orthopedic surgeon's office, maybe you'll see him for another 15 minutes, and then he'll recommend a surgery. The surgery itself takes us about an hour and a half to do. It's outpatient. It's in and out the same day. Unfortunately, it's very, very inconvenient because often.