SynthesisMedicine2017
Effectiveness of corticosteroid injections in adhesive capsulitis of shoulder: A meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Medicine, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 48 papers, 6 of them syntheses 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
48 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 98 citations in OpenAlex.
- Rehabilitation of Frozen Shoulder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Multifactorial Interventions.Pain research & management · 2026Pooled it
- Comparison of the efficacy of platelet-rich plasma versus corticosteroid in the treatment of adhesive capsulitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis based on randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Treatment Effects in Randomized and Nonrandomized Studies of Pharmacological Interventions: A Meta-Analysis.JAMA network open · 2024Pooled it
- Manipulation under Anesthesia versus Non-Surgical Treatment for Patients with Frozen Shoulder Contracture Syndrome: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Corticosteroid injection or dry needling for musculoskeletal pain and disability? A systematic review and GRADE evidence synthesis.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2021Pooled it
- Intra-Articular versus Subacromial Corticosteroid Injection for the Treatment of Adhesive Capsulitis: A Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review.BioMed research international · 2019Pooled it
- Clinical outcomes of intra-articular corticosteroid injection vs. multimodal physiotherapy in patients with frozen shoulder in short term: a randomized clinical trial.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Is there an additional benefit of ultrasound-guided coracohumeral ligament hydrorelease in cases with primary adhesive capsulitis undergoing ultrasound-guided shoulder hydrodilatation?Clinical rheumatology · 2025Trial
- Trial
- The Efficacy of Manipulation with Distension Arthrography to Treat Adhesive Capsulitis: A Multicenter, Randomized, Single-Blind, Controlled Trial.BioMed research international · 2022Trial
- Clinical effects of suprascapular nerve block in addition to intra-articular corticosteroid injection in the early stages of adhesive capsulitis: A singleblind, randomized controlled trial.Acta orthopaedica et traumatologica turcica · 2021Trial
- Mid-term outcomes after corticosteroid injection for adhesive capsulitis in patients with type-2 diabetes: a retrospective cohort study.European journal of orthopaedic surgery & traumatology : orthopedie traumatologie · 2026Article
- Immune Cell Causality and Glucocorticoid Trade-Off in Frozen Shoulder: Integrative MR-RNA-Seq Analysis.Biomedicines · 2026Article
- Frozen shoulder: a narrative review of current treatment concepts and the underlying scientific evidence.Clinics in shoulder and elbow · 2025Article
- What do European shoulder surgeons think of the frozen shoulder? Results of a questionnaire survey among the members of the European Society for Surgery of the Shoulder and the Elbow and a review of the current evidence.EFORT open reviews · 2025Review
- Joint Efforts: A Review of Large Joint and Bursa Steroid Injections and Aspirations by Primary Care Physicians.Journal of general internal medicine · 2025Review
- Article
- Effective treatment of hydroplasty injections and immediate physical therapy for glenohumeral adhesive capsulitis: a retrospective clinical analysis.JSES international · 2025Article
- Frozen Shoulder as a Metabolic and Immune Disorder: Potential Roles of Leptin Resistance, JAK-STAT Dysregulation, and Fibrosis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Assessing the Validity, Safety, and Utility of ChatGPT's Responses for Patients with Frozen Shoulder.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPrimary adhesive capsulitis is mainly characterized by spontaneous chronic shoulder pain and the gradual loss of shoulder motion. The main treatment for adhesive capsulitis is a trial of conservative therapies, including analgesia, exercise, physiotherapy, oral nonsteroidal anti-inflammation drugs, and intra-articular corticosteroid injections. Previously, it was reported that intra-articular corticosteroid lead to fast pain relief and improvement of range of motion (ROM). The objective of this study was to determine whether corticosteroid injections would lead to better pain relief and greater improvement in ROM.
methodsWe searched PubMed, Medline, and the Cochrane library. We included 5 articles of the 1166 articles identified. Totally injection group included 115 patients and placebo group included 110 patients. We calculated the weighted mean differences to evaluate the pain relief as the primary outcome. We determined the ROM as the secondary outcome. Study quality was evaluated using the 12-item scale. We also used the criteria of the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation to evaluate the quality of evidence.
resultsIn total, 5 studies were included, 4 of which were randomized clinical trials, with a sample size of 225 patients with adhesive capsulitis of the shoulders. The overall pooled data demonstrated that, compared with placebo as control treatment, intra-articular corticosteroid injections were more effective in reducing the pain score at 0 to 8 weeks, but there was no difference between the injection group and the control group at 9 to 24 weeks. Improvement of ROM in the injection group was greater than that of the control group both at 0 to 8 and 9 to 24 weeks.
conclusionsIntra-articular corticosteroid injections were more effective in pain relief in the short term, but this pain relief did not sustain in the long term. Intra-articular corticosteroid injection resulted in greater improvement in passive ROM both in the short and the long terms.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.