Receiving shoulder rehabilitation from a physiotherapist works equally well, regardless of whether the exercise takes place individually, as part of a group or as home-based training. This is shown by new research from the Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University and the Department of Occupational Medicine, Herning Regional Hospital.

2021.09.16 | Elisabeth Vestergaard Dørken

Physiotherapeutic rehabilitation is an important part of treatment for people with shoulder pain, but until now there has been doubt about which type of training is most effective.

Research from the Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University and the Department of Occupational Medicine, Herning Regional Hospital, now shows that three different types of training provide the same effect when measured according to e.g. the patients' level of pain and shoulder function.

Training in the clinic and at home gives the same result

In collaboration with the six municipalities in Western Jutland, the research team studied how the shoulder pain experienced by 208 patients was affected over the eight weeks of rehabilitation of the shoulder. The patients were randomly divided into either individual or class-based exercise rehabilitation at the physiotherapist, or home-based exercise rehabilitation under regular supervision. 

According to Senior Researcher David Høyrup Christiansen, the results show that the three types of training have the same effect:

"We can see that the patients achieved the same improvement in relation to pain relief, well-being and function in the shoulder, regardless of how they trained.

Although home-based exercise was associated with the lowest costs, the study could not unambiguously document the difference between the total financial costs of the three rehabilitation groups when measured six months after the start of rehabilitation.

Good news for municipal rehabilitation

Hanne Volsgaard is an occupational manager at one of the six municipalities involved in the project. She is in no doubt that the results will have an impact on the municipal rehabilitation programme:

"We joined the project because we want to contribute to creating new knowledge within our healthcare field – as this benefits our citizens. The results mean that we can confidently have supervised home-based rehabilitation as first choice, as long as that form of exercise is best suited to the person in question. This benefits both the individual and how we organise our tasks.”

The project does not yet have any results for the types of exercise that the patients themselves prefer. This is a question that the research team will continue to work on in the coming period. However, physiotherapists can confidently take patients' individual preferences and situation into consideration when deciding on the form of exercise, because they have an equally good effect.

The research results – more information

• The study is carried out by: Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University and the Department of Occupational Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital.
• Type of study: Randomised intervention study.
• Partners: The municipalities in Lemvig, Struer, Ringkøbing-Skjern, Ikast-Brande, Holstebro and Herning.
• External funding: The Practice Research Foundation and the Danish Arthritis Association.
• Link to the article https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1836955321000199?via%3Dihub

Contact 

Senior Researcher Associate Professor David Høyrup Christiansen
Aarhus University, the Department of Occupational Medicine
davcrh@rm.dk
2168 8431