Abstract
This purpose of this study is to investigate the efficacy of shoulder joint mobilization generated by an innovative servomotor joint mobilization apparatus that was developed in this research for patients suffering from frozen shoulder. Forty-eight patients with frozen shoulder were recruited and stratified randomly assigned into one of two groups: joint mobilization apparatus (posterior and inferior gliding, 80 N, 5 Hz, 30 min) combined with regular therapy (experimental group; EG) versus a regular therapy alone group (control group; CG), three times a week for eight weeks. The visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain and shoulder range of motion (ROM) were measured before, during, and the end of the treatment. Results showed that the shoulder flexion, abduction, internal rotation, and external rotation of the EG improved by 36%, 51%, 81%, and 88%, respectively, while VAS pain scores decreased by 62% when compared with the baseline. Furthermore, the shoulder flexion, abduction, internal rotation, external rotation, and pain score of the EG was 11%, 25%, 41%, 24%, and 34% better than those of the CG, respectively. No complaint as well as no side effects were found during or after usage of the joint mobilization apparatus in EG. This study suggests that the joint mobilization apparatus operated by a very small amount of professional manpower and combined with physical therapy further improves shoulder ROM and pain in patients with frozen shoulder compared to regular physical therapy alone and could be one of the new therapeutic regimens in the future.
Highlights
Frozen shoulder (FS, known as adhesive capsulitis) is a painful and disabling disorder of the shoulder capsule
From the satisfaction questionnaire in the experimental group (EG), we found that 85% of the participants were satisfied and 15% were neutral
There were no differences in demographic variables, range of motion (ROM), and visual analogue scale (VAS) score between the control group (CG) and EG at baseline
Summary
Frozen shoulder (FS, known as adhesive capsulitis) is a painful and disabling disorder of the shoulder capsule. The affected joint capsule causes the patient’s shoulder to feel like it is frozen. The pathological process of the FS often facilitates internal joint capsule inflammation, adhesion, and contracture [1]. The main symptoms of a FS include shoulder pain as well as loss of active and passive range of motion (ROM) [1,2]. Most FS patients feel that the shoulders are unable to move normally and are accompanied by pain, especially when doing shoulder abduction, internal rotation, and external rotation [3,4]. The incidence rate of FS is about 2–5% in the general population with the general age range to be found in patients older than 40 years old and occurs more often in women than men [2,6,7]
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