Is it worthwhile to offer repeat hydrodilatation for frozen shoulder after 6 weeks?
OBJECTIVE
Frozen shoulder is a common problem for which hydrodilatation is an established treatment option although the optimal regime is not yet established. We asked 'is it worthwhile to offer a repeat hydrodilatation procedure after 6 weeks?'


METHODS
A total of 36 patients diagnosed with frozen shoulder and undergoing hydrodilatation were evaluated. All patients had an initial hydrodilatation and were offered a repeat procedure after 6 weeks. Of the total patients, 22 chose to undergo a repeat procedure. The Shoulder Disability Questionnaire UK Score and Oxford Shoulder Score were used to evaluate pre- and postprocedure outcome. The mean follow up was 15.4 months.


RESULTS
The Oxford Shoulder Score improved by a significant level after both single (30.5-17.1) and repeat hydrodilatation (36.0-21.4). No significant change was observed after either procedure when using the Shoulder Disability Questionnaire UK Score as an outcome measure.


CONCLUSIONS
The data are suggestive that routine hydrodilatation after 6 weeks is not appropriate and should be instead offered to those patients who can tolerate it and who have not fully benefitted after a single procedure.
Department of Trauma & Orthopaedics, Kingston Hospital, Surrey, UK.
R K
RK
Trehan
S
S
Patel
A M
AM
Hill
M J
MJ
Curtis
D A
DA
Connell
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000779:Anesthetics, Local / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002045:Bupivacaine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002062:Bursitis / Q000628:therapy*; D004106:Dilatation / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular; D019233:Retreatment; D012462:Saline Solution, Hypertonic / Q000008:administration & dosage; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014221:Triamcinolone / Q000008:administration & dosage
D000779:Anesthetics, Local; D012462:Saline Solution, Hypertonic; D014221:Triamcinolone; D002045:Bupivacaine