ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The literature is inconsistent regarding the level of pain and disability in frozen shoulder patients with or without diabetes mellitus. The aim of this study is to evaluate some demographic features of frozen shoulder patients and to look into the disparity of information by comparing the level of pain and disability due to frozen shoulder between diabetic and non-diabetic people. DESIGN: This is a prospective comparative study. People with frozen shoulder attending an outpatient department were selected by consecutive sampling. Disability levels were assessed by the Shoulder Pain & Disability Index (SPADI). Means of pain and disability scores were compared using unpaired t-test. RESULTS: Among 140 persons with shoulder pain 99 (71.4%) had frozen shoulder. From the participating 40 frozen shoulder patients, 26 (65%) were males and 14 (35%) were females. Seventeen participants (42.5%) were diabetic, two (5%) had impaired glucose tolerance and 21 (52.5%) patients were non-diabetic. Mean disability scores (SPADI) were 51 ± 15.5 in diabetic and 57 ± 16 in non-diabetic persons. The differences in pain and disability level were not statistically significance (respectively, p = 0.24 and p = 0.13 at 95% confidence interval). CONCLUSIONS: No difference was found in level of pain and disability level between frozen shoulder patients with and without diabetes.
ABSTRACT
A prospective experimental study on 97 patients of chronic low back pain was conducted to find out the effects of shortwave diathermy. They were divided randomly into two groups and treated with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, exercises, activities of daily living instructions and with or without shortwave diathermy. After six weeks of treatment, improvements were observed in both the groups. But significant difference in improvement was found in shortwave diathermy group than in placebo group. The present study suggests that shortwave diathermy is effective for the treatment of patients with chronic low back pain.
