Can calcific tendinitis be cured with physical therapy it with ozone injections?

The short version: no retrieved study tests ozone injections for calcific tendinitis at all, and physical therapy alone had the highest rate of ending up in surgery.

The honest answer is that this retrieval cannot tell you whether ozone works. Not one of the records tested ozone for calcific tendinitis. The closest injection evidence is about different treatments entirely: a network meta-analysis found combined ultrasound-guided needling plus steroid injection was the most effective non-surgical option [2], and a single case report described ultrasound-guided lavage of a calcific deposit with pain dropping from 8/10 to 2/10 immediately and 0/10 at four weeks [4]. Neither is ozone. Treat any clinic selling ozone for this as selling an unproven product.

On physical therapy, the evidence is real but modest. A 2021 comparison of physical therapy, steroid injection, and ultrasound-guided aspiration found physical therapy had the highest rate of requiring surgery afterward [1]. A broader review found exercise and multimodal physiotherapy beat no treatment or placebo for rotator cuff tendinopathy, though the clinical significance was unclear [3]. That same review found no supportive evidence for shockwave, ultrasound, laser, or corticosteroid injection [3].

My call: physical therapy is a reasonable first step with real but limited evidence, and ozone is unproven here. Confidence: moderate on physical therapy, not clear on ozone.