Rotator cuff disorders: An updated survey of current (2023) UK physiotherapy practice

Clinical guidelines recommend treatment by a physiotherapist for people with shoulder pain due to rotator cuff disorder. Despite this recommendation, research evidence supporting the effectiveness of treatment by a physiotherapist is uncertain. While developing a randomised controlled trial to test the effectiveness of treatment by a physiotherapist for people with shoulder pain due to rotator cuff disorders, we first aimed to understand current practice as a basis for defining usual care.

An online survey was developed based on a clinical vignette used in a previous survey exploring physiotherapy practice for people with shoulder pain due to rotator cuff disorder. UK-based physiotherapists were invited to complete the survey via X and email across professional networks.

One Hundred Seventy complete responses were received. 167 (98%) respondents would offer advice/education to patients with shoulder rotator cuff disorders; 146 (86%) would use isotonic exercise (including concentric/eccentric strengthening); 20 (12%) would offer a corticosteroid injection; 7 (4%) would use joint mobilisation. 168/169 (99%) would offer in-person assessment; 115 (68%) expect to deliver treatment over three to four sessions. Fifty percent agreed there is uncertainty about the effectiveness of physiotherapy treatment for patients with shoulder rotator cuff disorders. Seventy six percent agreed that patients with this condition can recover without physiotherapy intervention.

Exercise and advice remain the most common treatments offered by physiotherapists for people with shoulder pain due to rotator cuff disorder. Corticosteroid injections are infrequently considered. Uncertainty about the effectiveness of treatment by a physiotherapist for shoulder pain due to rotator cuff disorder is evident.