Intra-articular steroid for adhesive capsulitis: does hydrodilatation give any additional benefit? A randomized control trial

Objectives To assess the benefit offered by capsular hydrodilatation in addition to intra-articular steroid injections in cases of adhesive capsulitis, assess outcomes in diabetic patients with capsular hydrodilatation as compared to non-diabetics and correlate duration of symptoms with outcome based on the type of intervention given. Materials and methods This prospective double-blinded randomized control trial included patients presenting with clinical features of adhesive capsulitis with no evidence of rotator cuff pathology and randomized them into two groups—intra-articular steroid with hydrodilatation (distension group) and only intra-articular steroid (non-distension group) with intervention being performed as per the group allotted. Primary outcome measure was Shoulder Pain and Disability Index (SPADI) scores which were taken pre-intervention, at 1.5, 3 and 6 months post-intervention, which were assessed by generalized linear model statistics and Pearson correlation. Results Although there was statistically significant drop in SPADI in both groups over time [ F (1.9, 137.6) = 112.2; p