Impact of expectations on functional recovery in individuals with chronic shoulder pain

Retrospective cohort.

To examine general expectations for treatment by physical therapists and specific expectations for common interventions in patients with shoulder pain. A secondary objective was to assess the extent to which patients' general and specific expectations for treatment affect clinical outcomes.

We performed a secondary analysis of data from a clinical trial of interventions for shoulder pain. Prior to beginning treatment for shoulder pain, 140 patients were asked their general expectations of benefit and their specific expectations for individual interventions. Next we examined how these expectations related to the patients' ratings of the success of treatment at one and six months after treatment.

Patients had positive general expectations for treatment by a physical therapist. Specific manual therapy interventions of range of motion and strengthening had the highest proportion of patients who expected these interventions to significantly improve shoulder pain. Seventy-two patients (58%) reported themselves to be improved using the global rating of change (GROC) at one month and six months. In the full model predicting one-month GROC, only the expectation of moderate relief (p = 0.012) and body mass index (BMI) (p = 0.013) had significant effects. Overall, the Shoulder Pain and Disability Index (SPADI) significantly decreased over time (p = 0.004); however, a significant interaction did occur between time and BMI (p = 0.021).

Patients expect common interventions used by physical therapists to be effective to manage shoulder pain. In conclusion, patients with shoulder pain had high general expectations for physical therapy.

Prognosis, level 2b.