Table 3.
Mean (SD) improvement in outcome measures in patients with painful stiff shoulder and differences between groups by treatment at different points in follow up
| Patients treated with corticosteroid injection* | Patients treated with physiotherapy* | Mean (95% CI) difference between groups | P value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Improvement in rating of severity† | ||||
| Associated with main complaint: | ||||
| 3 weeks | 32 (26) | 17 (21) | 15 (6 to 24) | (0.071)‡ |
| 7 weeks | 58 (28) | 32 (29) | 26 (15 to 37) | |
| 13 weeks | 66 (28) | 47 (33) | 19 (7 to 31) | |
| 26 weeks | 63 (31) | 54 (33) | 9 (−3 to 22) | |
| 52 weeks | 70 (24) | 59 (30) | 11 (1 to 23) | |
| Of pain during the day: | ||||
| 3 weeks | 22 (20) | 10 (15) | 12 (5 to 18) | < 0.001 |
| 7 weeks | 35 (20) | 23 (24) | 12 (4 to 21) | |
| 13 weeks | 36 (26) | 27 (31) | 9 (−3 to 20) | |
| 26 weeks | 32 (25) | 32 (28) | 0 (−10 to 10) | |
| 52 weeks | 38 (23) | 35 (26) | 3 (−7 to 13) | |
| Of pain at night: | ||||
| 3 weeks | 21 (26) | 9 (23) | 12 (2 to 21) | 0.015 |
| 7 weeks | 36 (28) | 22 (30) | 14 (3 to 25) | |
| 13 weeks | 37 (33) | 28 (36) | 9 (−4 to 23) | |
| 26 weeks | 34 (36) | 33 (41) | 1 (−13 to 17) | |
| 52 weeks | 37 (33) | 35 (39) | 2 (−12 to 16) | |
| As rated by observer: | ||||
| 3 weeks | 13 (17) | 0 (18) | 13 (6 to 20) | <0.001 |
| 7 weeks | 24 (20) | 9 (20) | 15 (7 to 22) | |
| 26 weeks | 29 (24) | 27 (27) | 2 (−9 to 11) | |
| Improvement in rating of shoulder disability§ | ||||
| 3 weeks | 19 (27) | 6 (22) | 13 (4 to 23) | 0.024 |
| 7 weeks | 39 (27) | 14 (27) | 25 (14 to 35) | |
| 13 weeks | 38 (31) | 28 (32) | 10 (−2 to 22) | |
| 26 weeks | 45 (30) | 33 (34) | 12 (0 to 25) | |
| 52 weeks | 42 (33) | 38 (34) | 4 (−10 to 17) | |
| Improvement in degree of restriction of range of motion | ||||
| External rotation: | ||||
| 3 weeks | 6 (14) | –3 (12) | 9 (3 to 14) | 0.002 |
| 7 weeks | 13 (16) | –2 (14) | 15 (9 to 20) | |
| 26 weeks | 16 (18) | 7 (21) | 9 (1 to 16) | |
| Abduction: | ||||
| 3 weeks | 2 (12) | –3 (13) | 5 (0 to 9) | 0.065 |
| 7 weeks | 4 (11) | –1 (14) | 5 (0 to 10) | |
| 26 weeks | 9 (12) | 7 (17) | 2 (−3 to 8) | |
At 3 and 13 weeks there is one missing value in each group. At 7 weeks there is one missing value in the injection group. At 26 weeks there are one missing value in the injection group and two in the physiotherapy group. At 52 weeks there are four missing values in the injection group and one in the physiotherapy group.
Pain as rated on visual analog scale in which scores range from 0-100; 100 indicates very severe pain.
The change in scores for this outcome measure show a non-gaussian distribution. Non-parametric testing results in statistically significant differences at 3, 7, 13, and 52 weeks
As rated on shoulder disability questionnaire in which scores range from 0-100; 100 indicates severe disability.11 12