NCT04154345

Exercise Into Pain in Chronic Rotator Cuff Related Shoulder Pain: a Prospective Single-Group Feasibility Study

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 12 (actual)
• Sponsor: Universiteit Antwerpen · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 65 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The purpose of this study is to evaluate a) the feasibility of applying a painful exercise program in the treatment of subacromial shoulder pain and b) the time needed to collect clinical outcomes for a future randomized controlled trial.

Detailed description

Exercise therapy is the first choice of treatment in the management of subacromial shoulder pain (SSP). Guidelines suggest active rehabilitation program for at least three months and existing research highlights the importance of progressive loaded exercise therapy at higher dosage. However, it is not clear which is the best type of exercise and if pain should be provoked during exercise. Recent research found that painful exercises are beneficial in short term on pain and function in patients with different kinds of chronic musculoskeletal pain. The aim of the future randomized clinical trial is to investigate if "exercising into pain" gives better results in term of clinical outcomes compared to a non-painful exercise program. Since the intervention consists in painful exercises, it is essential to test the rate of adherence in the intervention group (both during physiotherapist-led session and home-based exercises). Moreover, the practicability of clinical questionnaire via online survey will be tested and the time needed to collect clinical data will be calculated as well. Furthermore, feedback from physiotherapists and participants will be collected and analyzed.

Conditions

• Shoulder Impingement Syndrome

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Exercise therapy (exercising into pain)	The intervention consists of 12 weeks of progressive loaded exercises, three times per week. There are 9 sessions of supervised physiotherapy treatment, lasting 30 minutes, while the rest of the sessions is conducted as home exercises. There are 4 strengthening exercises, in which the pain allowed ranges between 4 and 7 on a verbal NPRS for 9 weeks, then pain ratings are 0-2 for the remaining 3 weeks. Every physiotherapy session includes also 15 minutes of manual therapy.

Timeline

• Start date: 2019-11-28
• Primary completion: 2020-05-14
• Completion: 2020-05-14
• First posted: 2019-11-06
• Last updated: 2025-06-24
• Results posted: 2025-06-24

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Belgium