If you are in constant pain from the tear, surgical intervention is likely needed. If the rotator cuff can't be fixed, the other option is a reverse total shoulder replacement.

I'm 71 and 10 months out from an anatomical TSR on my left shoulder. I have worked hard and am very happy with the results.

I suggest talking through these options and others with your surgeon.

As for gel injections in the shoulder - the FDA has approved for the knee, but not for the shoulder. you can still get the injections if your Dr agrees, but they won't be covered by insurance, are expensive, and only provide temporary relief, if that.

@silvern12

When you say you have a 50% year in your RC, is that to mean a partial or full thickness tear? That said, PRP is pretty useless on a full thickness tear. Additionally, if your Dr is conducting an unguided injection (poke & hope), the chances of a positive outcome drastically decreases. Also, the volume of platelets injected should exceed 5 billion which means they should extract approximately 100 CCs of blood from you. Some of the PRP SMEs say most ortho shops buy the cheaper Chinese prp kits which only come with much smaller blood draw stuff. Do your research online to gain very useful information on the whole prp process. It’s too expensive to trust your Dr without knowing the ins and outs of the process.

I know because I too have a trashed shoulder and, do to going through 2 prior extensive RCR procedures, know the recovery time is very painful and it completely sucks.

Good luck.