Original articlePulsed Electromagnetic Field and Exercises in Patients With Shoulder Impingement Syndrome: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial
Section snippets
Participants
Fifty-six patients aged 40 to 60 years (N=56; mean age ± SD, 50.5±8.9y), with a diagnosis of SIS, were randomly assigned to receive active PEMF (n=26; mean age ± SD, 50.1±8.2y) or placebo PEMF (n=30; mean age ± SD, 50.8±9.6y). After 3 weeks of active or placebo PEMF, both groups performed the same program of exercises focusing on shoulder strengthening. Four patients who were in the active PEMF group and 6 patients who were in the placebo PEMF group did not complete the study. All study
Results
At 3 months, 4 subjects in the active PEMF group and 6 subjects in the placebo PEMF group were lost during follow-up. Therefore, all per-protocol data analyses were performed with 22 subjects in the active PEMF group and 24 subjects in the placebo PEMF group.
Discussion
The results of this randomized controlled trial demonstrated that a 3-week intervention with PEMF is effective for improving function and reducing pain in patients with SIS. A combination of shoulder exercises is essential for increasing muscle strength and increasing the overall effectiveness of these improvements. Both active and placebo PEMF groups showed improvements for all functional and pain outcome measures when combined with shoulder exercises. The group that received active PEMF and
Conclusions
Our findings suggest that the combination of PEMF and shoulder exercises is effective in improving function and muscle strength and decreasing pain in patients with SIS. However, these results should be carefully interpreted because of the lack of between-group differences.
Suppliers
- a.
Meditea, Viamonte 2255 / 2265, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- b.
Lafayette Instrument Co, PO Box 5729, Lafayette, IN 47903.
- c.
SPSS Inc, 233 S Wacker Dr, 11th Fl, Chicago, IL 60606.
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Clinical Trial Registration No.: NCT01452204.
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