No abstract

Thirty-five patients with rotator cuff tendinitis were randomly allocated to active (CB Medico Master III 830 nm Ga As AL diode) laser or dummy laser treatment twice weekly for 8 weeks. Movement range, painful arc score, resisted movement score and responses to visual analogue scales for night pain, rest pain, movement pain and functional limitation were measured second weekly. All responses improved from baseline but there was no difference between the two groups. These results fail to demonstrate the effectiveness of laser therapy in rotator cuff tendinitis.

The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of different shoulder disorders likely to be experienced by a rheumatologist in a community-based rheumatology clinic. We assessed patients with shoulder pain presenting to a large general practice at a community-based rheumatology clinic. It was found that the more common conditions seen were rotator cuff lesions (65%), pericapsular soft tissue pain (11%), acromioclavicular joint pain (10%) and referred pain from cervical spine (5%). In conclusion this study has established the spectrum of shoulder disorders referred from general practice to a highly accessible community-based rheumatology clinic. The diagnostic processes to distinguish the different conditions rely chiefly on an accurate history and directed examination.

The role of thermography in the diagnosis of soft tissue lesions of the shoulder was evaluated by screening 28 patients with unilateral frozen shoulder and 86 patients with unilateral rotator cuff lesions. Index shoulders were then compared with the normal side. Differences in skin temperature distribution were found in 82% of subjects with frozen shoulder, nearly three-quarters of whom had reduced skin temperature. There was no consistent pattern of shoulder skin temperature found in rotator cuff tendinitis patients (49% normal, 28% reduced, 23% increased). Thermography can be helpful in the diagnosis of frozen shoulder but further studies are required to determine whether it is useful in other soft tissue shoulder lesions.

Green-lipped mussel significantly improved knee joint pain, stiffness and mobility. We report for the first time that the administration of GLM extract also significantly improved GI symptoms by 49% in OA patients. Given that GI dysfunction is linked to analgesic medication use, we further conclude that the therapeutic efficacy of the GLM extract used was possibly correlated to its effects on GI function by improving GSRS scores from baseline. Results from this trial highlight the requisite for further clinical investigations of gastrointestinal tract function in OA patients.