Trial reportTrials2013
Corticosteroid injection for shoulder pain: single-blind randomized pilot trial in primary care.
Trial report in Trials, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Corticosteroid Injections Give Small and Transient Pain Relief in Rotator Cuff Tendinosis: A Meta-analysis.Clinical orthopaedics and related research · 2017Pooled it
- Trial
- Progressive exercise compared with best-practice advice, with or without corticosteroid injection, for rotator cuff disorders: the GRASP factorial RCT.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2021Trial
- Comparison of efficacy of kinesiological taping and subacromial injection therapy in subacromial impingement syndrome.Clinical rheumatology · 2016Trial
- Article
- Joint Efforts: A Review of Large Joint and Bursa Steroid Injections and Aspirations by Primary Care Physicians.Journal of general internal medicine · 2025Review
- Need for intra-articular corticosteroid injections in patients with frozen shoulder.Orthopedic reviews · 2025Article
- The effect of pre-operative shoulder injections on post-operative opioid use, infection and revision following shoulder arthroplasty.Shoulder & elbow · 2023Article
- The effects of a single-dose subacromial injection of a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug in geriatric patients with subacromial impingement syndrome: a randomized double-blind study.Clinics in shoulder and elbow · 2021Article
- Panorama of Infiltration for Painful Shoulder Among Shoulder Specialists.Revista brasileira de ortopedia · 2020Article
- Screening of the cervical spine in subacromial shoulder pain: A systematic review.Shoulder & elbow · 2019Review
- Predictors of the effects of treatment for shoulder pain: protocol of an individual participant data meta-analysis.Diagnostic and prognostic research · 2019Article
- Defining Feasibility and Pilot Studies in Preparation for Randomised Controlled Trials: Development of a Conceptual Framework.PloS one · 2016Article
- I.S.Mu.L.T - Rotator Cuff Tears Guidelines.Muscles, ligaments and tendons journalArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundShoulder pain is a very common presentation in primary care. Evidence of benefit for subacromial corticosteroid injection is inconclusive and confined largely to studies with short follow-up. We plan a large, definitive, primary-care-based trial to determine efficacy and safety in patients with rotator cuff tendinopathy, and conducted a pilot trial to explore feasibility.
methodsSix general practitioners (GPs) from Oxfordshire, UK underwent update training in assessing painful shoulders and injecting the subacromial space. Each then recruited patients aged 35 to 74 years from primary care complaining of shoulder pain lasting no more than 6 months. Eligible participants were randomized to receive either methylprednisolone acetate 40 mg with lidocaine 1% (total volume 1 ml), or lidocaine 1% alone (total volume 1 ml), injected into the subacromial space. The participants were blinded to treatment allocation. Feasibility outcomes were rates of recruitment, withdrawal, adherence to the protocol, completeness of follow-up, and success of patient masking. Clinical outcomes were the Oxford Shoulder Score (OSS) at baseline and at 4 and 12 weeks, and responses to three satisfaction questions at 2, 4 and 12 weeks. Outcome data were collected by postal questionnaires.
resultsA total of 40 participants were randomized (80% of the target 50 participants) over 26 weeks giving an overall recruitment rate of 1.5 participants per week. Rates of follow-up were maintained to a high level for the full 12 weeks. Four participants requested a 'rescue' corticosteroid injection but no patients withdrew. The trial GPs gave high scores for their confidence that the patient had remained blinded to treatment allocation during the procedure. The OSS at 4 and 12 weeks and the responses to the satisfaction questions are reported.
conclusionsIt is feasible to recruit participants with shoulder pain in the primary care setting for a blinded, randomized trial of corticosteroid injection. Online randomization of participants from the practice is also feasible, and postal questionnaires provide an effective means of gathering outcome data in this area of study. The lessons learned from this pilot will usefully inform the design of a large, definitive efficacy trial in primary care.
trial registrationCurrent Clinical Trials ISRCTN82357435.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.