I am sorry to hear your brother is going thru so much pain. You have gotten some great advise though. Do not settle for the local doctor's opinion. Try the Mayo clinic or even Shands. There may be opportunities for him such as clinical trials or new procedures that could help. The injections are not good for him as a main source of pain control. There has to be a medication or procedures that will help him. My PM doctor and several I know do not even do the injections as they say they cause more harm than good.
Call and get him an appointment at Mayo or one of the Orthopedist at Shands.
I wish him the best of luck!
Keep us updated on how he's doing and if you have any questions we will do our best to answer them:)
I'm sorry to hear that your brother is having so many problems. I can relate to shoulder problems as I had a shoulder replacement done a little over a year ago. I personally did very well right after the surgery, but have been having increasing problems with pain and limited range of motion in the past couple of months so will be returning to the surgeon who did the surgery to see what he has to say. I, too, did not have much relief with the cortisone shots (I also had bone on bone arthritis as well as a rotator cuff injury).
Have you looked into taking your brother to the Mayo Clinic? They have a location in Jacksonville, FL (don't know how close that is to you). You can request an appointment by calling them (904/953-0853), sending them an email through their website (www.mayoclinic.org), asking your doctor to contact them for you (may be a requirement depending on your insurance) or writing them via snail mail at: Central Appointment Office, Mayo Clinic, 4500 San Pablo Road, jacksonville, FL 32224. I've never been to the Mayo Clinic myself, but have heard wonderful things about them. I do know that it sometimes takes a while to get an appointment with them, so if this is something that may interest you and/or your brother, I would suggest contacting them at your earliest convenience to get the ball rolling.
Best of luck and please keep us posted on how you both are doing.