The prevalence of cervical contribution in patients reporting shoulder pain. An observational study

Review written by Dr Sarah Haag info

Key Points

  1. 50% of patients in this study had a cervical contribution to their shoulder pain.
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BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE

Shoulder pain is a very common complaint that people present to physiotherapy with, but the classification of atraumatic shoulder pain utilizing orthopedic tests or imaging is not very helpful in determining the most appropriate treatment (1,2). The overlapping nature of shoulder and neck pain can make it difficult to sort out the best course of clinical care (3).

The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of cervical contribution in patients presenting with shoulder pain, as well as document symptom modification following cervical spine screening (CSS).

The overlapping nature of shoulder and neck pain can make it difficult to sort out the best course of clinical care.
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Identifying the correct core issue to address in physiotherapy could help shorten the time until patients feel better and resulting in a reduction in healthcare utilization.

METHODS

This observational study recruited 60 participants from two hospitals in Madrid. Patients were excluded if they had a history of systemic disease, previous shoulder surgery, pain at rest that improved with movement, history of trauma preceding their shoulder pain, shoulder

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