Table 4. GP management of RC related shoulder pain by time period (2000–2016).

	2000–2004 N = 1190 (95% CIs)	2004–2008 N = 1347 (95% CIs)	2008–2012 N = 1685 (95% CIs)	2012–2016 N = 2064 (95% CIs)
Management rate (per 1000 encounters)	2.98 (2.78–3.19)	3.50 (3.26–3.73)	4.28 (4.03–5.52)	5.30 (5.02–5.57)
Medication	57.1 (54.0–60.1)	47.9 (44.9–50.8)	51.0 (48.5–53.6)	54.3 (52.0–56.6)
NSAID	33.6 (30.7–36.5)	22.9 (20.4–25.3)	20.5 (18.4–22.5)	18.4 (16.7–20.1)
Steroid–Injection	9.8 (7.9–11.8)	10.3 (8.3–12.3)	15.8 (13.9–17.8)	19.7 (17.8–21.6)
Opioid	6.6 (5.2–8.1)	6.9 (5.5–8.3)	7.5 (6.2–8.8)	8.1 (6.9–9.3)
Panadol	7.1 (5.6–8.6)	6.7 (5.3–8.1)	7.0 (5.8–8.2)	7.4 (6.1–8.6)
Steroid–oral	0.2 (-0.1–0.4)	0.4 (-0.0–0.8)	0.1 (-0.0–0.3)	0.5 (0.2–0.8)
Advice/education/counselling	13.1 (11.1–15.1)	11.4 (9.6–13.3)	11.6 (10.0–13.2)	9.9 (8.5–11.4)
Exercise	2.5 (1.6–3.4)	1.9 (1.1–2.7)	2.3 (1.6–3.0)	0.6 (0.2–0.9)
Medication	0.8 (0.3–1.2)	0.4 (0.1–0.8)	0.4 (0.1–0.6)	0.6 (0.3–0.1)
Procedure	25.3 (22.6–28.0)	24.3 (21.3–27.2)	21.3 (18.9–23.7)	17.0 (15.1–18.9)
Physical medicine/ rehabilitation	12.0 (10.0–14.0)	8.7 (6.9–10.5)	7.5 (6.2–8.9)	6.6 (5.4–7.8)
Referral	18.7 (16.5–21.0)	18.2 (16.0–20.4)	18.8 (16.8–20.7)	19.3 (17.4–21.1)
Physiotherapist	10.6 (8.8–12.4)	11.5 (9.7–13.3)	11.2 (9.6–12.9)	12.2 (10.7–13.8)
Surgeon	6.1 (4.7–7.6)	4.4 (3.3–5.5)	5.2 (4.1–6.2)	4.5 (3.6–5.4)
Rheumatologist	1.3 (0.7–2.0)	0.6 (-0.1–1.2)	0.5 (0.1–0.8)	0.3 (0.1–0.6)
Imaging	24.2 (21.7–26.7)	27.2 (24.7–29.8)	35.5 (33.0–37.9)	44.1 (41.8–46.4)
Ultrasound shoulder	19.1 (16.8–21.4)	24.2 (21.7–26.7)	33.1 (30.7–35.5)	41.9 (39.6–44.2)
X-ray shoulder	13.7 (11.6–15.8)	12.1 (10.3–13.9)	12.2 (10.6–13.9)	11.8 (10.3–13.2)
MRI shoulder	0.0	0.0	0.1 (-0.0–0.3)	0.5 (0.2–0.8)
CT scan shoulder	0.0	0.0	0.3 (0.0–0.6)	0.1 (0.0–0.2)