Effectiveness Of Physiotherapy And Costs In Patients With Clinical Signs Of Shoulder Impingement Syndrome: One-Year Follow-Up Of A Randomized Controlled Trial

T.O. Kromer, R.A. de Bie, C.H.G. Bastiaenen*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the effect of manual physiotherapy and exercises compared with exercises alone in patients with shoulder impingement syndrome one year after inclusion. Design: Randomized controlled trial. Subjects: Patients with shoulder impingement of more than 4 weeks. Methods: The intervention group received individualized manual physiotherapy plus individualized exercises; the control group received individualized exercises only. Both groups had 10 treatments over 5 weeks; afterwards all patients continued their exercises for another 7 weeks at home. Primary outcomes were the Shoulder Pain and Disability Index and Patients' Global Impression of Change. The Generic Patient-Specific Scale was used as secondary outcome. Costs were recorded in a log-book. Results: Ninety patients were included in the study and 87 could be analyzed at 1-year follow-up. Both groups showed significant improvements in all outcome measures, but no difference was detected between the groups. Only costs differed significantly in favour of the control group (p=0.03) after 5 weeks. Conclusion: Individualized exercises resulted in lower costs than manual physiotherapy and showed a significant effect on pain and functioning within the whole group after one year. Exercises should therefore be considered as a basic treatment. Due to the progressive improvement that occurred during the follow-up period with individualized exercises further treatments should be delayed for 3 to 4 months.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1029-1036
JournalJournal of Rehabilitation Medicine
Volume46
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2014

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