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Study to find number one frozen shoulder treatment

A major national research project is set to find the most effective treatment for one of the most common forms of debilitating pain.

Frozen shoulder affects 10% of the UK adult population, causing severe pain and stiffness and impairing function and quality of life. However, there is limited high-quality evidence comparing the effectiveness of different treatments for the condition. The UK Frozen Shoulder Trial (UK-FroST), funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme, will compare the three most frequently used active treatments in the NHS.

The trial will be led by Amar Rangan, clinical professor in trauma and orthopaedic surgery at James Cook University Hospital, who also holds an honorary professorship in º£½ÇÖ±²¥â€™s Health and Social Care Research Institute. Managed by York Clinical Trials Unit, the £1.7m trial will involve 500 frozen shoulder sufferers across 25 clinical centres in the UK.

Treatments being compared are physiotherapy and two operating theatre procedures – keyhole surgery and controlled manipulation of the shoulder. A typical course of physiotherapy costs around £500, with keyhole surgery costing in the region of £2,200 and controlled manipulation £1,500, so the outcome could potentially save the NHS millions of pounds.

Nigel Hanchard, Senior Research Fellow at º£½ÇÖ±²¥ and the physiotherapy lead for UK-FroST, says that the project is hugely important, both clinically and financially.

He added: 'We will be able to properly compare the three most-used treatment approaches to frozen shoulder in the NHS – not only in terms of their clinical outcomes, but also their cost-effectiveness. The importance of this study really can’t be overstated.'

Nigel, who has himself been affected by frozen shoulder, added: 'It is an extremely nasty condition – very painful and it disturbs sleep and makes your day-to-day activities a misery. The pain makes you feel ill.

'But you still try to go about your daily business, so the suffering is hidden. You don’t tend to get much empathy. That feeling of hidden suffering has been echoed by patients with frozen shoulder who we’ve interviewed as part of a separate research project.'

UK-FroST will begin in October 2014 and will run for five years.

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