Regenerative medicine for shoulder arthritis

Hi @anilkumarv and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. It is great that you are looking for alternatives to surgery. The purpose of Connect is for members to share their personal medical experience. Can you tell me what campus you are looking to go to? Mayo does have regenerative medicine physicians.

Hi @amandaburnett , no worries, will reach out to board phone number and figure out. Btw i am a resident of Dallas TX, however i am open for travel, will see how it goes. Thank you for your response.

Just saw this...I'm 77. Have shoulder arthritis and in both hands and hip. Also osteoporosis. For osteoporosis, almost done with Tymlos daily injections (2 years). I'm at my wits end with finding anything that relieves arthritis pain. Rx meds don't help...OTC not helping. I am a home health care employee and I am really having a tough time.

Hi @georgette12, I'm 77 also and have degenerative arthritis in the hips, knees and probably the shoulders. I also haven't had much help with OTC stuff. I try to keep moving daily with some kind of activity and not overdo anything which seems to be when I really get the pain at night. Mayo Clinic has some do's and don'ts that you might find helpful if you aren't already aware of them.

Arthritis pain: Do's and don'ts: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/arthritis/in-depth/arthritis/art-20046440

I did get a guided steroid shot in my right hip which helped quite a bit but seems to have worn off now. The physical therapist showed me some hip abductor exercises which I've added to my daily routine and they seem to help a little also. There are a couple of discussions you might want to scan to learn what others have shared.

- Living with arthritis: How do you stay active?: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/living-with-arthritis-how-do-you-stay-active/
- Osteoarthritis - what helps?: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/im-looking-forward-to-the-webinar-tomorrow-i-have-osteoarthritis-in-most/

Hi, I can only offer what has helped me. Since I don't know specifically where your shoulder hurts, for me, it was generally just rotation in the joint and it was very bad at night. I started with getting deep tissue shoulder massages, because arthritis can cause knots in the muscles that add to the pain. That helped a lot. Then, I started sleeping with a couple firm pillows under my right arm, along my side, so that the arm was propped up to the side of my body or a little higher when I slept. Because my shoulder was stable and not dropped onto the mattress, this seemed to take a lot of the pain in the joint. This has pretty much alleviated my shoulder pain. However, I sleep on my back so I'm not sure how this would work for side sleepers, however, I have trained my body to sleep on my back because arthritis has made sleeping in any other position uncomfortable.

Thank you @rvgirl66, and I'm glad you've found a way to minimize shoulder pain while sleeping.

I had my left shoulder replaced in August 2025, 7 months ago. It was an anatomical TSR. For recovery, I had to learn to sleep propped up, with folded towels under my operated arm so the shoulder wouldn't sink to the mattress, exactly as you describe.

At first I found sleeping on my back nearly impossible. 7 months after surgery and I still start sleeping on my back and I still use the shoulder-support towels. Fortunately, I can now also sleep on either side, but I always start out on my back, propped up, and fall asleep very quickly.

The surgery was a huge success and all my shoulder pain is gone. I had no cartilage left and many, many arthritic spurs. At the end, it hurt every day.

I'm 71 and this is my fourth joint replacement (both knees, right hip as well). And I'm in the gym everyday and fit for an old guy. The joint replacements have been miraculous as far as pain relief.

Timing is the big question. My advice - don't wait until pain is everyday in a joint. If you trust your surgeon and they tell you the joint will need to be replaced at some point, just schedule the surgery when it is next most convenient for you. I waited too long and had to wait three months for surgery in a lot of pain. Bad idea and totally avoidable.

All the best to you and thanks for sharing your experience.

Joe