CLINICAL OUTCOME OF BLIND VERSUS SONOGRAPHIC GUIDED INFILTRATION OF CORTICO STEROID FOR PAINFUL SHOULDER CONDITIONS IN ADULTS – A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Abstract

Background: Painful shoulder is one of the commonest ailmaent encountered in the outpatient department of orthopedica now a days. One of the ways to get relief from the pain is to instill intraarticular corticosteroids. Corticosteroid injections can be performed blind or with image guidance. The objective of this study was to compare the accuracy and efcacy of image guided intraarticular corticosteroid injections in shoulder pain versus blind, with specic reference to pain relief as per VAS and functional improvement as per constant score. Objective : To compare the efcacy of image guided intra-articular corticosteroid injection in shoulder pain versus blind method of inltration, with specic reference to 1. pain relief as per visual analogue score. 2. To compare post inltration functional improvement of as per constant score with these two methods. Methods: The present Study included 50 adults with a history of pain around the shoulder of three or more than three months duration and were divided into two groups of 25 patients each by simple computer based allocation. Results: Both groups showed improvement as per CONSTANT SCORE, (26.64 to 72.00, an improvement of 45.36 in USG group and 27.48 to 58.60, an improvement of 31.12 in blind group with significant p value of 0.001). Conclusion: USG inltration of corticosteroids in shoulder pain is a superior method compared to blind inltration as clearly established by signicant improvement in pain and range of motion (ROM) of shoulder joint (more in ultrasonic group compared to blind group) probably due to accurate needle placement and proper dosage of drug is delivered at the required site.