The use of steroids for the management of chronic shoulder pain by interventional techniques

Background: Pain as a common symptom of shoulder disease, has diverse etiologies. NSAIDs, physiotherapy, neural blocks, intraarticular injections, and surgery are the most commonly used methods of treatment. The goals of this study were to reduce pain and improve the range of motion of the affected shoulder. Methods: Among 70 patients referred to a private pain clinic with chronic shoulder pain as their major complaint (duration of pain 21 mo), 63 patients were chosen for regional blocks as follows: suprascapular (25), sub-acromial bursa and suprascapular (40), sub-acromial bursa and field block (FB) (14), brachial plexus (11), cervical epidural (6), and FB (4). Pain relief evaluation was done according to Visual Analog Scale (VAS) (using a 100-segmented ruler). Pain relief > 50 was considered successful and special health-care and medical exercise therapy recommended. Results: Average age of patients was 49.2 ± 13.7 years (females = 64 and males = 34). Sixty-seven percent of patients had significant pain relief after a week, 73 after 4 weeks, and 81 after 12 weeks (P < 0.0001). Conclusion: Regarding the results of pain relief after 1, 4, and 12 weeks postinjection, it appears that the pain relief state is likely to be permanent after the first week