• Lin-Fen Hsieh, Wei-Chun Hsu, Yi-Jia Lin, Hsiao-Lan Chang, Chiao-Chien Chen, and Vincent Huang.
• Department of Physical Medicine, Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
• Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2012 Jun 1;93(6):957-64.

ObjectiveTo compare the efficacy of intra-articular hyaluronic acid (HA) injections plus physical therapy (PT) with that of PT alone for the treatment of adhesive capsulitis (AC) of the shoulder.DesignProspective, randomized controlled trial.SettingRehabilitation and orthopedics department of a private teaching hospital.ParticipantsPatients (N=70) with AC of the shoulder were randomly placed into either of the following treatment groups: group 1, HA injections with PT (HAPT group); or group 2, PT alone (PT group).InterventionsThe patients in group 1 received intra-articular glenohumeral joint injections of HA, 20mg, once per week for 3 consecutive weeks and also participated in a PT program for 3 months. The patients in group 2 received PT alone.Main Outcome MeasuresActive and passive range of motion (ROM) of the affected shoulder, pain, disability, and quality of life.ResultsBoth groups experienced improvements in terms of pain, disability, and quality of life after the treatments; furthermore, the active and passive ROM improved linearly with increasing treatment duration. When the groups were compared, no significant group effect was found for any of the outcome measurements.ConclusionsIntra-articular HA injections did not produce added benefits for patients with AC of the shoulder who were already receiving PT. Thus, the use of intra-articular HA injections for patients with AC of the shoulder should be carefully assessed to reduce unnecessary medical expenditures.Copyright © 2012 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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