Seven key themes in physical therapy advice for patients living with subacromial shoulder pain: a scoping review

Review written by Dr Rachel Chester info

Key Points

  1. Advice and education tended to focus on exercise intensity, pain response, pathoanatomy and postural advice.
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BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE

Patients who understand their health condition are more likely to be satisfied with their care and engage in self-management. Patients who do not understand their health condition generally have poorer outcomes, poorer adherence and experience more fear and concerns. Advice and education are generally provided as part of physiotherapy practice. However, the content of advice and education in studies about physiotherapy is uncertain.

The aim of this review was to identify any study that included physiotherapy for patients with subacromial pain and analyze the content of advice and education provided. The authors discussed the results with respect to the evidence base and made recommendations for good practice in the future.

Patients who understand their health condition are more likely to be satisfied with their care and engage in self-management.
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Given the uncertain relationship between structural problems and symptoms, clinicians should include education about pain mechanisms as part of their treatment.

METHODS

The authors used the Preferred Reporting of Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) extension for Scoping Reviews (1). Scoping reviews are a relatively new methodology, useful for this review because they can be used to search a broad body

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