None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Chronic rotator cuff pathology is a musculoskeletal disorder of the shoulder often characterised by pain and weakness. It involves a specific group of muscles in the shoulder, which become damaged over time leading to a chronic loss of full shoulder function and the subsequent loss of quality of life for sufferers. There are few studies comparing the shoulder function of individuals with and without the condition and this is important to help us understand why the condition develops and what treatments might be more effective. Physiotherapy is often used to improve lost shoulder function. Physiotherapists use techniques that aim to reduce pain and weakness of the shoulder, thereby improving function. However there are very few studies that actually evaluate the effectiveness of physiotherapy for this condition. The purpose of this project is to evaluate whether physiotherapy intervention, using current accepted techniques, is effective in reducing pain and stiffness and improving strength and shoulder function. Previous experience has shown that the benefits of physiotherapy have not been properly evaluated by good quality research, and we would like to investigate whether or not physiotherapy is a useful intervention for this condition.
Interventions
A physiotherapy treatment program, comprising muscle stretches, joint mobilisation, postural taping, soft tissue massage and exercises. Both groups will attend for 10 treatment sessions over 10 weeks. The physiotherapy group will then continue with home exercises for a further 12 weeks while the placebo group will cease treatment.
Sponsors
Prof Kim Bennell
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Blinded (masking used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
i) diagnosis of chronic rotator cuff pathology as evident by symptoms and signs including pain on active abduction or external rotation and positive impingement test; ii) symptoms of pain in shoulder for >3 months; iii) average movement pain >3 on a 10cm visual analogue scale.
Exclusion criteria
i) severe pain at rest, defined as >7 on a visual analogue scale; ii) global restriction of shoulder movements; iii) systemic inflammatory joint disease; iv) x-ray evidence of shoulder osteoarthritis or fracture; v) calcification about the shoulder joint; vi) reason to suspect a complete rotator cuff rupture (eg weakness of arm elevation, a positive 'drop arm sign', a high riding humerus visible on x-ray or a complete tear on ultrasound); vii) previous shoulder surgery on affected arm; viii) physiotherapy, corticosteroid injection or hydrodilation for shoulder in past 3 months; ix) commenced non-steroidal antiinflammatory medications (NSAIDs) or conservative intervention in past 2 weeks.
Outcome results
None listed