Date :11-Jun-2020
The group of muscles and tendons that surround the human shoulder joint and keep the bone firmly in the shoulder socket are, collectively, called the ‘rotator cuff.’
Injuries to the rotator cuff are surprisingly common, but are more likely to happen to people who have to perform repeated overhead movement of their arms.
While medication, physio-therapy and surgery are advised, depending on the severity of the injury, a new line of treatment involving stem cells has started getting serious consideration. While the older techniques have varying levels of success, the biggest problem, with the currently most popular; that is surgery; is that it is very hard to achieve good tendon to bone healing. This is where stem cell treatment is being considered.
Stem cells are the body’s raw materials. Under the right conditions these cells divide to form daughter cells, which themselves become more stem cells or specialized cells with very specific functions.
It has been observed that when introduced into a damaged joint, stem cells modify the joint’s environment from damaged to healing by telling the native cells to get ready for rebuilding.
In 2016 a group of Australian researchers published an academic paper confirming how this change of joint environment works. Stem cells provide a non-surgical healing environment by decreasing the muscle degeneration associated with rotator cuff injuries.
While stem cell therapy has shown great potential and a lot of research is going on all around the world, it is, in many institutions considered in its experimental phase.
However, advanced stem cell therapy and gene therapy, represent a viable future option in rotator cuff healing.
Blog Reviewed By: Dr. Bharani Kumar Dayanandam
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Authored By Dr Bharani Kumar Dayanandam,MBBS,Orthopedic Surgeon
