In many instances , no or minimal attempts to screen were undertaken or reported .
Background Subacromial shoulder pain is a common clinical presentation with much diagnostic uncertainty .
Some of this uncertainty relates to the involvement of the cervical spine as a source or contribution to subacromial shoulder pain .
Currently , there is no accepted method of screening of the cervical spine in the presence of subacromial shoulder pain , which risks patients receiving misguided and /or ineffective interventions .
Objective To evaluate approaches used to screen the cervical spine in patients with subacromial shoulder pain .
Randomised Controlled Trial of Contralateral Manual Acupuncture for the Relief of Chronic Shoulder Pain
Objective To explore the effects of contralateral manual acupuncture ( MA ) on patients with chronic shoulder pain . Methods Eighty patients with chronic shoulder pain were r and omly allocated to receive contralateral MA ( n=38 ) for 4 weeks or to remain on a waiting list while receiving conventional orthopaedic therapy ( n=42 ) . Visual analogue scale ( VAS ) scores were taken as the primary outcome measure and used for a priori power calculation . Secondary outcome measures for the assessment of shoulder mobility and quality of life included the Jobe test , the Constant-Murley ( CM ) score , the Disabilities of the Arm , Shoulder and H and ( DASH ) score , and the 36 item Short Form Health Survey ( SF-36 ) . Results Intention-to-treat ( ITT ) analysis demonstrated significant pain relief with contralateral acupuncture , with mean differences in VAS scores compared to the waiting list group of −19.4 ( −28.0 to −10.8 ) at 2 weeks , −40.4 ( −49.0 to −31.8 ) at 4 weeks , −41.1 ( −49.7 to −32.5 ) at 8 weeks , and −40.9 ( −49.5 to −32.3 ) at 16 weeks . CM and DASH scores were also improved at all time points ( p<0.01 ) . Shoulder mobility , physical functioning , social functioning and mental health components of the SF-36 were also improved by contralateral acupuncture at 8 weeks . No significant adverse effects were observed . Conclusions These results demonstrate beneficial effects of contralateral acupuncture in the treatment of chronic shoulder pain , both in terms of pain and function . Future research is required to compare directly the effects of local and contralateral acupuncture and to quantify the specific and non-specific effects . Trial Registration Number NCT01733914
In many instances , no or minimal attempts to screen were undertaken or reported .
Background Subacromial shoulder pain is a common clinical presentation with much diagnostic uncertainty .
Some of this uncertainty relates to the involvement of the cervical spine as a source or contribution to subacromial shoulder pain .
Currently , there is no accepted method of screening of the cervical spine in the presence of subacromial shoulder pain , which risks patients receiving misguided and /or ineffective interventions .
Objective To evaluate approaches used to screen the cervical spine in patients with subacromial shoulder pain .