Journal of Physiotherapy
Available online 17 March 2021
David Høyrup Christiansen
Abstract
Question
What are the relative effects of group-based exercise, individual exercise and home-based exercise on clinical outcomes and costs in patients with subacromial pain?
Design
Multicentre, three-arm, randomised controlled trial with concealed allocation and intention-to-treat analysis.
Participants
A total of 208 patients referred to municipal rehabilitation for management of subacromial pain in six municipalities in the Central Denmark Region.
Interventions
Patients were randomly allocated to group-based exercise rehabilitation (GE), individual exercise rehabilitation (IE) or home exercise rehabilitation (HE) for a period of 8 weeks.
Outcome measures
The primary outcome measure was the shortened version of the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand questionnaire (Quick-DASH). The secondary outcome measures included the EQ-5D-5L index, pain intensity, fear avoidance, psychological wellbeing, and the participant’s perception of improvement and satisfaction. Healthcare and productivity costs were extracted from national health and social registers.
Results
There was no important between-group difference in Quick-DASH scores at 6 months: adjusted mean differences GE minus IE −2 (95% CI −9 to 5), GE minus HE −2 (95% CI −9 to 5) and HE minus IE 1 (95% CI −6 to 7). The estimates of the between-group differences were able to exclude any clinically important differences in the three regimens’ effects on health benefits according to the EQ-5D-5L index and other secondary outcomes. The total average costs were highest for the IE group and lowest for the HE, but not statistically different across groups.
Conclusion
In people with subacromial pain, group-based exercise, individually supervised exercise and home-based supervised exercise regimens have similar benefits. The home exercise intervention was associated with lowest costs.