Incidence and severity of shoulder pain does not increase with the use of circuit class therapy during inpatient stroke rehabilitation: a controlled trial.

QUESTIONS Does circuit class therapy result in a greater incidence or severity of shoulder pain compared with individual therapy? Is the incidence influenced by the degree of active shoulder control? DESIGN Controlled trial with intention-to-treat analysis. PARTICIPANTS Sixty-eight people (6 drop-outs) undergoing inpatient rehabilitation after stroke. INTERVENTION Participants received either individual therapy or group circuit class therapy. OUTCOME MEASURES Incidence of shoulder pain over the previous 24 hours was measured as a yes/no response while severity of shoulder pain was measured using a visual analogue scale at admission, Week 4, and discharge. RESULTS There was no greater chance of participants receiving circuit class therapy having shoulder pain at Week 4 (OR 0.95, 95% CI 0.32 to 2.80) or discharge (OR 0.38, 95% CI 0.11 to 1.45) than participants receiving individual therapy. Of those participants who reported pain, there was no difference between groups in the severity of pain at Week 4 (mean difference -0.2 cm, 95% CI -3.2 to 2.7) or discharge (mean difference -2.1 cm, 95% CI -4.8 to 0.6). There was a greater chance of participants who had no active shoulder control having shoulder pain at Week 4 (OR 5.8, 95% CI 1.6 to 20.4) and at discharge (OR 3.8, 95% CI 1.0 to 13.9) than participants who had active shoulder control. CONCLUSION The incidence and severity of shoulder pain was influenced by degree of active shoulder control but not by type of physiotherapy service delivery. Concerns regarding shoulder pain should not be a barrier to the implementation of circuit class therapy during inpatient stroke rehabilitation.