Exercise as good as surgery for shoulder injury

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A study shows that graded exercise training works equally well as surgery in treating rotator cuff injury of the shoulder.
Arthroscopic decompression surgery is being used increasingly to treat a common shoulder problem called rotator cuff injury. However, evidence for the superiority of surgery is said to be unconvincing.

Doctors at Herning Hospital, Denmark, now present results of a comparison. A group of 41 patients with rotator cuff injury had surgery and 43 graded exercise training. After a one year follow-up, there were similar improvements in pain and functioning in the two groups. Larger studies are now needed to see if there are sub-groups of patients who might benefit more from surgery or from exercise so each individual can be assigned to the best treatment.

Source
Annals of Rheumatic Disease May 2005