Patient-reported outcomes following a physiotherapy rehabilitation programme for atraumatic posterior shoulder subluxation.

BACKGROUND: There is a paucity of research that describes the patient-reported benefits of physiotherapy rehabilitation for atraumatic posterior instability despite non-operative treatment being considered the initial treatment of choice. This retrospective case series review describes the patient-reported outcomes following a physiotherapy rehabilitation programme for atraumatic posterior shoulder instability.

METHODS: Nineteen consecutive patients with a clinical diagnosis of atraumatic posterior shoulder subluxation completed our physiotherapy programme. All patients completed Oxford Instability Shoulder scores (OISS) and Western Ontario Shoulder Instability Index (WOSI) scores before and after physiotherapy intervention.

RESULTS: Patients reported a statistically significant clinical improvement in the main outcome measures following physiotherapy intervention. The OISS showed a mean improvement of 18.6 points, whereas the WOSI score showed a mean improvement of 37.2%. Following physiotherapy rehabilitation, all patients reported that their shoulder did not prevent them from performing their work/studies or their chosen hobbies/sports.

CONCLUSIONS: Our results support the view that specialized physiotherapy rehabilitation is a valuable treatment option for atraumatic posterior shoulder instability and reveal significant clinically important improvements in patient-reported outcomes.