Manual Therapy in Chronic Shoulder Pain Treatment

University of Alcala

Status: Completed

Conditions: Shoulder Pain

Treatments: Procedure: The manual contact condition; Procedure: Mobilization to the glenohumeral joint; Other: No-contact condition

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03416556

H1496053548524

Details and patient eligibility

About

Background: Passive oscillatory mobilizations are often employed by physiotherapists to reduce shoulder pain and increase function. However, there is little data about the neurophysiological effects of these mobilizations.

Objectives: To investigate the initial effects of an anteroposterior (AP) shoulder joint mobilization on measures of pain and function in overhead athletes with chronic shoulder pain.

Full description

Design: Double-blind, controlled, within-subjects repeated-measures design Method: Thirty-one overhead athletes with chronic shoulder pain participated. The effects of a 9-min, AP mobilization of the glenohumeral joint were compared with manual contact and no-contact interventions. Pressure pain threshold (PPT), range of movement (ROM), muscle strength, self-reported pain, and disability were measured immediately before and after each intervention.

Enrollment: 31 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 60 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• History of chronic shoulder pain lasting ≥3 months.
• Play overhead sport regularly.

Exclusion criteria

• Had a non-musculoskeletal origin of shoulder pain.
• Previous surgery to the shoulder complex.
• Frozen shoulder.
• Any co-existing inflammatory, infectious or neurological condition.
• The patient from physiotherapy treatment.
• Any evidence of pain referred from the cervical spine to the shoulder

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Crossover Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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31 participants in 3 patient groups

Mobilization to the glenohumeral joint

Experimental group

Description:

This condition consisted on the application of a passive rhythmic AP mobilization to the glenohumeral joint of the affected shoulder

Treatment:

Procedure: Mobilization to the glenohumeral joint

The manual contact condition

Sham Comparator group

Description:

In this condition the therapist positioned the patient in a mid-range position of glenohumeral abduction and internal rotation and applied the hands to the same contact point as in the treatment condition.

Treatment:

Other: No-contact condition

Procedure: The manual contact condition

No-contact condition

No Intervention group

Description:

There was no manual contact between the therapist and the participant