Corticosteroid injection alone vs additional physiotherapy treatment in early stage frozen shoulders

Table 1 Demographics and patient characteristics

Characteristic	Total	Non-PT	PT	P-value
No. of patients	21	11	10
Age (yr)	51.9 (SD 5.1)	50.4 (SD 6.1)	53.3 (SD 3.8)	0.17
Gender
Male	9 (43)	4 (36)	5 (50)
Female	12 (57)	7 (64)	5 (50)	0.67
Stage of frozen shoulder
Freezing (stage I)	8 (38)	6 (55)	2 (20)
Frozen (stage II)	13 (62)	5 (45)	8 (80)	0.18
Duration of symptoms prior to intervention
< 6 mo	13 (62)	9 (82)	4 (40)
> 6 mo	8 (38)	2 (18)	6 (60)	0.08
Previous injection around the shoulder	11 (52)	5 (45)	6 (60)	0.67
Previous PT	15 (71)	7 (64)	8 (80)	0.64
Disabled to work related to shoulder	4 (19)	2 (18)	2 (20)	1.00
Diabetes mellitus	2 (10)	2 (18)	0 (0)

PT: Physiotherapy treatment.

Table 2 Shoulder Pain and Disability Index scores for pain, disability and total Shoulder Pain and Disability Index scores (medians with interquartile range)

	Non-PT	PT	P-value
SPADI pain
Baseline (wk)	82 (70-90)	86 (46-92)	0.68
6	71 (24-79)	18 (9-43)	0.09
12	48 (22-68)	20 (9-57)	0.17
26	14 (8-30)	13 (4-32)	0.94
SPADI limitations
Baseline (wk)	81 (58-88)	74 (28-84)	0.42
6	69 (47-76)	11 (4-36)	0.01
12	38 (25-72)	14 (5-58)	0.15
26	10 (9-50)	8 (1-25)	0.35
SPADI total
Baseline (wk)	80 (65-87)	82 (35-86)	0.54
6	63 (45-76)	14 (6-38)	0.01
12	42 (25-72)	16 (7-58)	0.17
26	14 (11-39)	10 (2-28)	0.44

SPADI: Shoulder Pain and Disability Index; PT: Physiotherapy treatment.

Table 3 Range of motion measurements, medians (with interquartile range)

	Non-PT	PT	P-value
Abduction
Baseline (wk)	50 (40-60)	50 (41-102)	0.39
6	70 (43-90)	100 (80-140)	0.01
12	80 (65-98)	100 (90-165)	0.03
26	85 (80-149)	130 (85-170)	0.33
Anteflexion
Baseline (wk)	70 (70-80)	95 (48-120)	0.25
6	90 (75-111)	140 (105-165)	0.02
12	90 (80-146)	130 (115-155)	0.06
26	100 (90-160)	155 (110-170)	0.17
External rotation
Baseline (wk)	0 (0-5)	8 (0-24)	0.14
6	13 (5-26)	40 (30-43)	0.01
12	18 (8-29)	40 (25-65)	0.04
26	30 (13-44)	50 (35-60)	0.07

PT: Physiotherapy treatment.

Table 4 Pain (numeric pain rating scale) scores, RAND-36 physical component scale and mental component scale

	Non-PT	PT	P-value
NPRS average last week
Baseline (wk)	8 (7-9)	8 (5-8)	0.37
6	4 (2-8)	2 (1-4)	0.19
12	4 (2-7)	1 (0.5-5)	0.17
26	3 (1-4)	2 (0-3)	0.41
NPRS night
Baseline (wk)	8 (8-9)	9 (7-9)	0.94
6	4 (3-7)	2 (0-3)	0.02
12	5 (2-7)	1 (0-6)	0.11
26	2 (1-3)	2 (0-3)	0.48
RAND-36 PCS
Baseline (wk)	33 (31-40)	39 (34-46)	0.11
6	43 (35-46)	47 (44-52)	0.10
12	45 (43-50)	47 (43-55)	0.63
26	43 (35-56)	40 (46-56)	0.56
RAND-36 MCS
Baseline (wk)	47 (36-54)	44 (35-54)	0.94
6	49 (35-52)	50 (42-56)	0.33
12	43 (29-51)	52 (40-55)	0.20
26	52 (50-57)	52 (35-57)	0.56
Satisfaction (wk)
6	3 (2-3)	4 (3-4)	0.02
12	2 (0-4)	3 (2-4)	0.22
26	3 (3-4)	3.5 (3-4)	1.00

Satisfaction scores (“worse’’, ‘‘unchanged’’, ‘‘unsatisfactory improved’’, ‘‘satisfactory improved’’ and ‘‘good to very good improved”). Results reported as medians (with interquartile range). NPRS: Numeric pain rating scale; PT: Physiotherapy treatment.