Clinical Efficacy of Small Needle Knife Therapy on Stage I-II Frozen Shoulder

Summary

The protocol presented here describes the detailed operation method and proves the effectiveness of a small needle knife in the treatment of frozen shoulders.

Abstract

Frozen shoulder is a kind of aseptic inflammatory disease of the shoulder caused by strain, trauma, and other reasons, resulting in shoulder joint pain and limited function. The protocol presented here demonstrates the operation of a small needle knife in treating frozen shoulders, including patient management, material preparation, positioning, operation, and postoperative care. The purpose of this protocol is to relieve the pain and functional limitations and improve the living ability of patients with frozen shoulders. In our study, 76 stage I-II frozen shoulder patients who met the inclusion criteria were randomly divided into a control group and a treatment group (n=38). Patients in the control group received functional exercise, while the treatment group received small needle knife therapy with functional exercise. The visual analogue scores (VAS), the Constant and Murley scores (CMS), and the thickness of the coracohumeral ligament (CHL) under ultrasound were evaluated. After small needle knife therapy, the VAS score was significantly lower in the treatment group (5.11 ± 0.89) than in the control group (5.49 ± 0.65; t=-2.065, p<0.05); the CMS score was significantly higher in the treatment group (64.72 ± 4.78) than in the control group (60.97 ± 6.00; t=2.947, p<0.05); the CHL thickness was significantly decreased in the treatment group (2.38 ± 0.36) than in the control group (2.57 ± 0.42; t=-2.117, p<0.05). These results indicate that the small needle knife significantly relieved the pain symptoms, improved the shoulder function, reduced the CHL thickness, and improved the quality of life and, therefore, had significant therapeutic efficacy in stage I-II frozen shoulder patients.

Introduction

Frozen shoulder is a disease characterized by pain and limitation of active and passive shoulder movement, which causes great inconvenience to the work and life of patients¹. The global incidence of frozen shoulder is 2%-5%^2,3 and higher in females than in males, showing a certain genetic tendency⁴. The majority of frozen shoulder patients are 40-60 years old⁵. Moreover, the frozen shoulder brings about a heavy social burden due to the longer recovery cycle and the absence of established treatment consensus in the clinic practice.

Protocol

The protocol of this study has been approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of Longhua Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Approval Number: 2023-LHXS-030). Before the trial, written informed consent was provided by each patient included in the study. A total of 76 patients with stage I-II frozen shoulder in the rehabilitation department of Longhua Hospital affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine from December 2022 to May 2023, who met the inclusi.......

Discussion

In this study, we found that the small needle knife therapy significantly relieved the pain symptoms, improved the shoulder joint function, reduced the thickness of CHL, and improved the quality of life in stage I-II frozen shoulder patients. The small needle knife therapy had exact effect on frozen shoulder. However, the operation site is controversial. Due to the different knowledge backgrounds, many operation sites can be selected to treat frozen shoulders with small needle knife. The main operation sites are tender p.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Disposable sterile injection needle	Shanghai Mishava Medical Industry Co., Ltd	601900973	Type specification:0.5 x 38 RWLB
Disposable sterile small needle-knife	Wujiang Yunlong Medical equipment Co., Ltd	PR-4040	Type specification:40 mm x 40 mm
Disposable sterile syringe	Shandong Weigo Group Medical polymer Products Co., Ltd	601909174	Type specification:10 mL
Lidocaine hydrochloride	Shanghai Hefeng Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd	6904996104121	Type specification:5 mL
Marker pen	Zebra Trading (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd	4901681518111	Type specification:1.0 mm/0.5 mm
Sterile absorbent cotton ball	Shanghai Honglong Medical Supplies Equipment Co., Ltd	601905637	Type specification:0.3  25 g
Sterile disposable medical plastic cup	Shanghai Honglong Medical Supplies Equipment Co., Ltd	709008633	Type specification:Waist-shaped disc
Sterile dressing block	Ningbo Haishu Shenyuan Medical Materials Co.,  Ltd	601909470	Type specification:7.5 cm x 7.5 cm x 8 floors
Sterile medical tweezers	Shanghai Honglong Medical Supplies Equipment Co.,Ltd	603917444	Type specification:Small size
Sterile rubber surgical gloves	Guilin Hengbao health protection Co.,  Ltd	6971787071320	Type specification:6.5
Sterile self-adhesive dressing	Shanghai ISO Medical Products Co., Ltd	601909414	Type specification:10 cm x 15 cm
Sterile water for injection	Shanghai Xinyi Jinzhu Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd	6938493300953	Type specification:5 mL
Type II skin disinfectant	Shanghai Likang Disinfection high-tech Co., Ltd	6909157000359	Type specification:500 mL/ bottle
Ultrasound	Suzhou Daer Medical Equipment Co., Ltd	100018857	uSmart3300 portable color ultrasound system