Management of adhesive capsulitis of shoulder joint with arthroscopic release vs. manipulation under anaesthesia: a comparative study

Abstract

Background: Shoulder stiffness is a manifestation of various pathologies or clinical scenarios variously described as scapula humeral periarthritis, frozen shoulder and adhesive capsulitis. Frozen shoulder is characterized by significant restriction of active and passive motion of the shoulder that occurs due to unknown factors. Adhesive capsulitis causes contracted, thickened joint capsule that seemed to be drawn tightly around the humeral head with a relative absence of synovial fluid and chronic inflammatory changes within the subsynovial layer of the capsule. In this study we did a comparison of 30 patients treated with arthroscopic release and manipulation under anesthesia. Methods: There were 30 patients in this study with 15 patients in each group of different age groups. All the patients were studied for a period of one year between July 2021 to July 2022. The functional outcomes were assessed using dash scoring system. Results: in this study of 30 patients with different age groups followed for 12 months and assessed by DASH scoring system. We had excellent results in arthroscopic group with postop dash score standard deviation is 5.87. Conclusions: The arthroscopic capsular release of shoulder joint in adhesive capsulitis was found to have a better functional outcome as compared to the manipulation of shoulder joint under anaesthesia. Currently no treatment protocols are universally effective which needs more and more research and developments for proper treatment strategies. Morbidity with this condition has caused significant loss both economically and psychologically.