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Comparison Clinical Effects of Hypertonic Dextrose and Steroid Injections on Chronic Subacromial Bursitis: A
Lien-Chieh Lin1, Yu-Hao Lee, Yi-Wen Chen
1From the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Shuang Ho Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan (L-CL, Y-HL, Y-WC, T-HH, T-HL, S-WH); Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan (L-CL, Y-HL, Y-WC, T-HH, T-HL, S-WH); and Rehabilitation Department, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand (TV).
Objective:
The aim of the study is to determine and compare the treatment efficacy of subacromial steroid injections and dextrose prolotherapy for chronic subacromial bursitis patients.
Design:
Fifty-four patients with chronic subacromial bursitis were enrolled in this double-blind randomized controlled trial. Shoulder Pain and Disability Index and visual analog scale were the primary outcomes.
Results:
The steroid group ( n = 26) exhibited significant visual analog scale score improvements comparing with baseline at weeks 2, 6, and 12; the dextrose prolotherapy group ( n = 28) exhibited visual analog scale score improvements at weeks 6 and 12. The steroid group displayed significant Shoulder Pain and Disability Index score improvements compared with baseline at weeks 2, 6, and 12; the dextrose prolotherapy group exhibited significant score decreases at weeks 2 and 6. Compared with the dextrose prolotherapy group, the steroid group demonstrated significantly greater decreases in visual analog scale scores at weeks 2 and 6; the steroid group showed significantly greater decreases in Shoulder Pain and Disability Index scores at weeks 2, 6, and 12.
Conclusions:
Both hypertonic dextrose prolotherapy and steroid injections can provide short-term improvements of pain and disability among chronic subacromial bursitis patients. Moreover, steroid injections showed better effectiveness than hypertonic dextrose prolotherapy in ameliorating pain and improving function.
