NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - After treatment to free up a "frozen shoulder," physiotherapy for 6 weeks results in sustained improvements in range of motion for at least 6 months, an Australian trial suggests.

Dr. Rachelle Buchbinder and associates at Monash University in Melbourne, Victoria, enrolled 156 patients following acute treatment of a frozen shoulder, technically known as adhesive capsulitis. They were assigned to standard manual therapy with directed exercise or to a placebo group given sham ultrasound. Two sessions per week for 2 weeks were followed by one session per week for 4 more weeks.

Outcomes were assessed at 6, 12, and 26 weeks. The trial was completed by 70 control subjects and 74 active treatment subjects.

Physical therapy was associated with significantly greater active range of shoulder movement at all evaluations compared with placebo treatment.

Patients also assessed improvement to be significantly greater in the physical therapy group than in the placebo group, the investigators report in the Arthritis and Rheumatism.

Measures of pain, function, and quality of life improved in both groups, with no significant difference between the two.

The team calculates that the cost of physiotherapy, billed at $400 (Australian) per patient, was offset by healthcare and non-healthcare savings, so that the net cost was reduced to just $137.

SOURCE: Arthritis and Rheumatism, August 15, 2007.