For Frozen Shoulder, Physical Therapy Is as Effective as More-Invasive Interventions

Adhesive capsulitis (“frozen shoulder”) often responds well to physical therapy (PT), with or without intra-articular corticosteroid injection. Frozen shoulder also can be treated more invasively, with manipulation under anesthesia or arthroscopic capsular release, but the effectiveness and safety of these options have not been compared rigorously. In this study, researchers in the U.K. randomized 500 adults with unilateral adhesive capsulitis to manipulation under anesthesia, capsular release (each followed by as many as 12 sessions of PT), or PT alone. Patients in the PT-alone group received intra-articular steroid injection before starting PT.

About 80% of patients in each group completed their assigned treatment. A 48-point measure of sh…