Valencia C, Coronado RA, Simon CB, Wright TW, Moser MW, Farmer KW, George SZ. Preoperative physical therapy treatment did not influence postoperative pain and disability outcomes in patients undergoing shoulder arthroscopy: a prospective study.
J Pain Res 2016;
9:493-502. [PMID:
27462174 PMCID:
PMC4940007 DOI:
10.2147/jpr.s101702]
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Abstract
Background
There is limited literature investigating preoperative physical therapy (pre-op PT) treatment on pain intensity and disability after musculoskeletal surgery. The purposes of the present cohort study were to describe patient characteristics for those who had and did not have pre-op PT treatment and determine whether pre-op PT influenced the length of postoperative physical therapy (post-op PT) treatment (number of sessions) and 3-month and 6-month postsurgical outcomes, such as pain intensity and disability.
Patients and methods
A total of 124 patients (mean age =43 years, 81 males) with shoulder pain were observed before and after shoulder arthroscopic surgery. Demographic data, medical history, and validated self-report questionnaires were collected preoperatively and at 3 months and 6 months after surgery. Analysis of variance models were performed to identify differences across measures for patients who had pre-op PT treatment and those who did not and to examine outcome differences at 3 months and 6 months. Alpha was set at the 0.05 level for statistical significance.
Results
Males had less participation in pre-op PT than females (P=0.01). In contrast, age, pain intensity, disability, and pain-associated psychological factors did not differ between pre-op PT treatment groups (P>0.05). Subacromial bursectomies were more commonly performed in patients having pre-op PT treatment (P<0.05). Pre-op PT treatment did not influence length of post-op PT treatment and did not affect 3-month and 6-month pain intensity and disability outcomes. Differences in distribution of pre-op PT for males and females and subacromial bursectomy did not influence 3-month or 6-month postsurgical outcomes.
Conclusion
Receiving pre-op PT treatment did not influence post-op PT treatment or pain and disability outcomes at 3 months and 6 months. This prospective cohort study provides no evidence of benefit for pre-op PT on post-op PT treatment or postsurgical outcomes. Females or patients receiving certain surgical procedures are more likely to undergo pre-op PT treatment. However, these differences did not influence postoperative outcomes in this cohort.
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