Effects of Combined Ultrasound and Exercise on Pain Level, Range of Motion, Stability and Function in Rotator Cuff Tendinopathy Among Overhead Sport Players

Cham, Jia Wei (2023) Effects of Combined Ultrasound and Exercise on Pain Level, Range of Motion, Stability and Function in Rotator Cuff Tendinopathy Among Overhead Sport Players. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology.

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Abstract

The purpose of the study is to compare the effect of combining ultrasound and exercise and exercise alone on shoulder pain level, function, range of motion and stability in overhead sport players. This study is using the randomized pretest posttest control group design. A total of 15 subjects (Male = 15) were recruited but 4 subjects from the experimental group dropped because they have to focus on their academics. The demographic data were collected in control group and experimental group respectively such as age (M=24.57, SD=3.05, M=21.75, SD=1.26), year of experience (M=5.14, SD=0.70, M=4.5, SD=1.73). All participants completed the pretest (before 1st session) and posttest (after last session) throughout the 6 weeks. The range of motion of the shoulder (ROM), shoulder stability, function and pain levels were measured in pre and post tests. For the Neer’s and empty can test, it is to evaluate whether the subjects have problems with their rotator cuff. The range of motion of the shoulder (ROM) will be measured by using the goniometer, shoulder stability will be evaluated by the upper quarter Y balance test, pain level will be measured by the visual analogue scale (VAS) and Quick Dash to evaluate the function of the subjects. The results in this study show that exercise alone significantly improves the subjective measurement (pain level p<0.001, function p<0.001) and one of the objective measurements, which is stability (p=0.005). However, only one of the range of motion is significant which is shoulder abduction (p=0.008), others are not significant which are shoulder flexion (p=0.484), shoulder external rotation (p=0.135) and shoulder internal rotation (p=0.225). The result in this study showed that combining ultrasound with exercise significantly improves the subjective measurement (pain level p=0.035, function p=0.003). However, there was no significance in objective measurements (range of motion: shoulder flexion (p=0.860), shoulder abduction (p=0.206), shoulder external rotation (p=0.133), shoulder internal rotation (p=0.912); stability p=0.077).The study by Ebadi et al., (2017) stated that therapeutic ultrasound combined with exercise showed significant improvement in shoulder pain and function. However, it also concluded that therapeutic ultrasound does not provide additional benefits.