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Introduction: The natural course of frozen shoulder (FS) remains unclear and factors like altered central pain processing and autonomic dysfunction might play a role in the disease course and incomplete recovery in a subset of patients. Psychological factors (e.g. catastrophizing and hypervigilance) might influence pain severity and measurements in patients with chronic pain and an interrelation might be present. Methods: Patients with FS completed six questionnaires and underwent quantitative sensory testing, including tactile sensitivity (allodynia), pressure pain thresholds (hyperalgesia), temporal summation and conditioned pain modulation four times (at baseline and 3, 6 and 9 months after baseline). Results: One hundred and forty-nine patients with frozen shoulder were initially recruited and 88 completed all the follow-up measurements. Pain intensity, shoulder pain and disability, catastrophizing, hypervigilance, allodynia and hyperalgesia improved over time. Fair correlation was found between pain intensity and catastrophizing and catastrophizing and hypervigilance, while poor correlation was found between pain intensity and hypervigilance, allodynia and hyperalgesia, between catastrophizing and hyperalgesia and autonomic symptoms and between hypervigilance and hyperalgesia. Discussion: Patients with FS improve in several pain variables and psychological pain related variables over the course of 9 months. This improvement might be related to each other in a small extent, due to the presence of correlations between some of these variables. Process evaluation: Data analysis is in process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Disorders of the rotator cuff are a common musculoskeletal pain presentation in the general population, and treatment by a physiotherapist is often prescribed. In 2011, 2016, surveys of physiotherapy practice in the United Kingdom (UK) were performed, which reported that advice and exercise were the most common treatment strategies used. The aim of this current survey was to examine current physiotherapy practice in Belgium and The Netherlands, with consideration of differences between physiotherapists who were members of a shoulder network and physiotherapists who were not., Methods: During February/March 2018, a cross-sectional online survey was conducted in Belgium and The Netherlands., Results: 505 physiotherapists completed the survey. Advice (n = 362/505), isotonic exercises (n = 302/505) and scapular stabilisation exercises (n = 359/505) were the most common treatment modalities for patients with rotator cuff disorders. Physiotherapists not part of a shoulder network group more commonly integrated mobilization (n = 66/254 SN, n = 125/251 N-SN), electrotherapy (n = 1/254 SN, n = 19/251 N-SN) and massage (n = 48/254 SN, n = 89/251 N-SN) compared to those who were member of the group., Conclusion: Advice and exercise were the most common treatment prescriptions, which aligns with recommendations from current research evidence. Practice differs between physiotherapists involved with a shoulder network group compared to those who are not., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)