Outcome of Surgical and Conservative Treatment of Patients with Shoulder Impingement Syndrome - a Prospective Comparative Clinical Study.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY Subacromial impingement is one of the most common reasons for shoulder pain. The surgical management of this condition has recently become the focus of criticism because of the rising number of surgical procedures and the lack of superiority of surgical over conservative treatment. In this prospective comparative study, we compared standardised conservative care with surgical treatment and placed special emphasis on the patients' ability to work. MATERIAL AND METHODS A total of 106 patients (25 women, 81 men; mean age: 45.4 12.3 years) were included in this prospective comparative clinical study. Patients in the non-operative arm (n = 42) received standardised physiotherapy. Patients in the surgical arm (n = 38) underwent arthroscopic subacromial decompression. All patients were followed up at 3, 6 and 12 months. Shoulder function (Constant score), pain (Numerical Rating Scale), and the duration of inability to work were assessed. RESULTS Shoulder function and pain improved significantly with both kinds of treatment. At no time of follow up we detected significant differences between the two treatment options. An analysis of the patients' ability to work showed that conservative treatment was superior to surgical treatment at 3-month follow-up (0.3 versus 5.0 weeks; p < 0.001) and between 4 and 6-month after intervention (0.2 versus 1.6 weeks; p = 0.032). DISCUSSION In the study presented here, significant improvements in function (Constant score) and pain (NRS) were achieved in both the non-operative and the surgical arm. There were no significant differences between the two groups at any time point. These results are similar to those reported by other authors in recent studies. Unlike other research work, however, our study demonstrated a major difference in the development and duration of inability to work. CONCLUSIONS Conservative and surgical treatment of subacromial impingement syndrome led to similar outcomes for shoulder pain and function at 3, 6 and 12 months after intervention. However, patients who were managed conservatively returned to work significantly earlier than patients who underwent surgery. Key words: subacromial impingement, shoulder, constant score, pain, ability to work.