Physiotherapy Treatment of Shoulder Rotator Cuff Tendinopathies. Global Postural Reeducation or Aerobic Exercise?

Global Postural Reeducation vs. Non-specific Therapeutic Exercise in the Treatment of Rotator Cuff Tendinopathies of the Shoulder

The goal of this clinical trial is to compare in participant population (patients with rotator cuff tendinopathy of the shoulder) the effect of a Global Postural Reeducation (GPR) program vs. a nonspecific therapeutic (aerobic) exercise program

Participants who meet the inclusion criteria will be randomly distributed between group 1 "Global Postural Reeducation (GPR)", group 2 "exercise", or group 3 "no physical therapy intervention".

Group 1 participants will receive a physical therapy treatment using the GPR method for 6 weeks consisting of 1 weekly session lasting 40 min performing "frog on the ground" and "sitting" poses. Patients in this group will also perform self-postures at home daily for 10 minutes.

Group 2 participants perform training for 6 weeks using non-specific aerobic exercise consisting of a daily 20-minutes walk at a speed of 4-5 km/h.

Group 3 participants will not receive any physical therapy treatment and will serve as a control group.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Shoulder pain with duration of at least 3 months
• Positive painful arc test during abduction
• At least one positive of the following tests: Hawkins-Kennedy test, Neer's sig, empty can test, drop arm or lift-off test

Exclusion Criteria:

• Cervical radiculopathy
• Moderate or severe degenerative arthropathy
• Complete rotator cuff tear
• History of shoulder or neck surgery
• History of shoulder fractures or dislocation
• Frozen shoulder or adhesive capsulitis
• Previous interventions with steroid injections or physiotherapy 2 months before the start of the program