Stem cell therapy may offer a promising, minimally invasive, non-surgical approach for treating adhesive capsulitis, (frozen shoulder). Use typically in conjunction with shoulder manipulation to free the shoulder and restore range of motion. Research is currently limited on the effectiveness of stem cell therapy for adhesive capsulitis.
Other treatments
A study conducted in February 2026 (1) looked into and compared how effective platelet-rich plasma (PRP), corticosteroids, and normal saline injections were in treating frozen shoulder among 90 patients. The patients were randomly assigned to three different groups for the interventions. The first group received PRP injections along with physical therapy, the second group got corticosteroid injections with physical therapy, and the third group was treated with saline injections combined with physical therapy. Patient outcomes were measured at the beginning and then again at 1, 2, 4, and 6 months after the treatment started. The findings indicated that corticosteroid injections paired with physical therapy resulted in better outcomes than PRP injections, particularly during the freezing phase of frozen shoulder. However, all three treatment options—PRP, corticosteroid, and normal saline injections—showed significant improvements after the treatments.
A February 2026 study (2) compared platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and corticosteroid injections in 1,056 patients with adhesive capsulitis. Researchers assessed pain (VAS), function (DASH), and range of motion (ROM). Both groups showed similar VAS and DASH scores at 1 month, VAS at 3 months, and ROM in flexion. However, PRP produced better outcomes at 6 months for VAS, at 3 and 6 months for DASH, and for ROM in abduction, external rotation, and internal rotation.
References
1 Hsieh LF, Fu YS, Chen TA, Liu YF, Chang CS, Huang YH. Platelet-Rich Plasma Versus Corticosteroid Injection in Patients With Primary Frozen Shoulder: A Single-Blinded Randomized Controlled Trial. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. 2026 Feb 26.
2 Chang X, Wang Z, Tan J, Zhou N, Zhong Q, Chen Y, Huang R. Comparison of the efficacy of platelet-rich plasma versus corticosteroid in the treatment of adhesive capsulitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis based on randomized controlled trials. Frontiers in Medicine. 2026 Feb 1;13:1766836.
