Objective: To determine the effect of conservative exercise therapy with and without Maitland thoracic manipulation in patients with subacromial pain.
Methods: The randomised controlled trial study was conducted at the Mayo Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan, from June 2015 to February 2016, and comprised patients with subacromial pain (group 1) and controls (group 2).Pre-assessment was done by using numeric pain rating scale and shoulder pain and disability index as subjective measurements, while range of motion was taken as objective measurement. SPSS version 21 was used for data analysis.
Results: Of the 40 participants, there were 20(50%) in each group. The baseline pain intensity on numeric pain rating scale for group 1 was 5.05±1.538 and for group 2 was 5.35±1.137; the values later changed to 0.70±0.923 and 2.30±0.979, respectively. The baseline functional status score according to shoulder pain and disability index for group 1 and 2 was 40.25±12.354 and 43.15±7.343 that changed to 12.30±4.714 and 22.55±5.577, respectively.
Conclusions: Maitland thoracic spinal manipulation with conservative exercise therapy was more effective than conservative exercise therapy alone.
Keywords: Shoulder impingement syndrome, Manipulation, Spinal, Physical therapy modalities..