Craig A. Cummins, Lisa M. Sasso and Daniel Nicholson
This study looked at patients with impingement syndrome to analyse outcomes of nonoperative treatment on a temporal basis. Temporal outcomes of 100 consecutive patients treated for impingement syndrome were prospectively evaluated. All patients began a standardized, nonoperative treatment protocol consisting of a subacromial steroid injection, followed by physical therapy.
Of patients with impingement syndrome treated nonoperatively, 79% did not require surgery after two-year follow-up. Predictors of patients going on to surgical intervention included the total number of subacromial steroid/lidocaine injections and patient response to the initial subacromial injection. Of the patients not undergoing surgery, 30% continued to have some shoulder pain.
Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery,2009, 18(2), 172-177