Freeing up Frozen Shoulder
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Freeing up
Frozen Shoulder
Author: Helen Kinnear and European College of Bowen Studies
Results From Frozen Shoulder Research Programme
Published in February 2000
FROZEN SHOULDER RESEARCH RESULTS
SUMMARY REPORT:
Outline of the Protocol
From amongst volunteers for the study 100 patients were accepted, each
of whom was currently suffering from chronic shoulder pain with
considerably reduced -range of shoulder motion. Patients were initially
assessed for function, pain and range of motion and all patients
completed a case history questionnaire which was signed and sealed away
from the therapist's view.
Patients were paired with experienced Bowen therapists and each
therapist was assigned equal numbers of treatment and placebo patients.
Patients were randomly assigned to either a treatment or blind placebo
group.
Treatment patients received four sessions of the normal Bowen shoulder
protocol, no extra moves. Placebo patients received a previously tested
procedure that was known to have no affect. All therapists followed the
protocol strictly and there was no deviation from the set moves.
Therapists were told not to give too much information about Bowen and to
give the some aftercare advice for all patients, whether treatment or
placebo. The initial assessment tested range of motion for a number of
glenohumeral shoulder movements.
The patient also conducted a subjective self-assessment of their pain
level during each movement. All assessments were then repeated before
each treatment session.
The results of the research show that The Bowen Technique significantly
improves the 'frozen shoulder' condition. Improvements were seen in
shoulder range of motion, function and pain levels. Although all
therapists were already aware of this, it is good to now be able to show
objective findings and the clinical trials will enable provision of firm
evidence on the affect of Bowen as a treatment.
Results are presented in two parts: Overall Results and Specific
Results.
Overall Results
These show the overall average range of motion improvement for all
shoulder movements. The results show that overall 67% of treatment
patients improved. This was compared to 50% of placebo patients.
However, the placebo patients only showed an improvement of 8 degrees
and this is not significant. In other words, this is just what would be
expected by chance alone. In contrast the treatment patients improved by
23 degrees. This was found to be highly significant (p<0.05%). This was
the average improvement over all the shoulder movements and is
indicative of some movements improving considerably and others not
responding much at all.
Specific Results
Patients with a chronically stiff and painful shoulder most often
complain about loss of function, especially with regard to lifting the
affected arm overhead. We were therefore particularly interested in the
off ect of Bowen on two shoulder movements - forward flexion (lifting
the arm overhead forwards) and shoulder abduction (lifting the arm
overhead sideways). These results were particularly exciting and provide
enormous potential for the introduction of Bowen into nation-wide
treatment programmes for this condition.
Shoulder abduction improved in 78% of patients compared to the placebo
improvement of just 22% of patients. Again, although the numbers of
placebo patients improving was higher than expected, the actual
improvement was not significant and was no more than could be expected
by chance alone. However, the actual improvement for the treatment group
was 40* compared to just 90 for the placebo group. Again, this is highly
significant (p<0.05%). Similarly, forward flexion improved by 281 in the
trial group and only 7' in the placebo group. These results are again
highly significant (p<0.05%).
Pain levels were also significantly improved by Bowen treatment and
although these measures are only subjective they do underline the
importance of Bowen in reducing pain and discomfort. It is also
interesting to note that placebo patients who went on to receive actual
Bowen improved significantly where they had shown no significant
improvement with the placebo moves.
I trust these results will be found to be both interesting and
thought-provoking. Practitioners have always known that Bowen works -
now it can be shown.
Helen Kinnear and European College of Bowen Studies
Results of the European College of Bowen Studies/Helen Kinnear Frozen
Shoulder Research Programme published in February 2000.
