Meet John Haase

Spring 2024

John has always led an active life. A former Navy pilot and avid athlete, he played basketball, baseball, tennis, and golf — until he couldn’t. When his shoulder pain became unmanageable, John turned to Spaulding Rehabilitation to get him back in the game. After John tried “everything in the book” — deep tissue massage, physical therapy, needling, electrical stimulation, active release techniques — to address the pain, his licensed massage therapist, a fellow Spaulding patient, recommended Dr. Joanne Borg-Stein. As a pioneer of musculoskeletal and innovative orthobiologic interventions, she was the only one John would consider seeing. “Before I had this procedure, I did my research,” says John. “I knew that not all specialists in this domain are equal.”

An orthobiologic procedure, platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections, are a specialty of Dr. Borg-Stein. A form of regenerative medicine, the therapy uses platelets from the patient’s own blood to facilitate improvement in the targeted area. Although the procedure has been around for several decades, only in the last 10 to 15 years has PRP been used for musculoskeletal issues and sports injuries. That is because of recent breakthroughs in research.

These advances are significant for finding new treatment applications for PRP. Dr. Borg-Stein and other investigators at Spaulding are at the forefront of novel discoveries, in part because of the generosity of our donors. Their support makes a real difference for patients like John, who found that Spaulding was “the right place” for him because of our leading-edge approach.

His PRP treatment, along with a few physical therapy visits, was the regimen that worked for John. “It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach,” he acknowledges, “but for me, it worked exceptionally well.” Still, John did not see the full impact of the procedure for a few months. “I saw continuous improvement from when I first got PRP,” says John. “But within six months, I was back to enjoying the sports I love.” He was able to do things that he hadn’t been able to do in decades. But most importantly, “It was nothing short of life changing,” he says. “Dr. Borg-Stein returned me to the active and athletic lifestyle that I enjoy so much.”*

Unfortunately, some orthobiologic interventions — like John’s — are not covered by insurance. Barriers such as finances can make it harder for patients to get these newer procedures that could change their recovery for the better. Donor partnership like yours is essential to help us continue to advance the field so that these revolutionary treatments will be accessible to more patients in the future.

*Patient results may vary based on a variety of individual factors.