Effectiveness of hyaluronic acid administration in treating adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.

Abstract

INTRODUCTION:

Adhesive capsulitis (AC) of the shoulder presents with an insidious onset of pain and progressive limitation of shoulder movement.

OBJECTIVES:

To investigate whether intra-articular hyaluronic acid (HA) administration alone is superior to conventional therapies and whether the addition of intra-articular HA administration to conventional therapies improves clinical outcomes in patients with AC.

METHODS:

The PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library electronic databases were searched without language restrictions in July 2014 with a priori defined inclusion and exclusion criteria.

RESULTS:

Four randomized controlled trials (273 participants, 278 shoulders) were included in this review. Two trials compared intra-articular HA administration with conventional therapies and 2 trials evaluated intra-articular HA administration as an addition to conventional therapies. Pain and shoulder function/disability outcomes in the HA injection group were not superior to those achieved in the conventional therapy groups. No significant differences in pain or shoulder function/disability outcomes were noted between the groups with and without adjunctive HA administration.

CONCLUSIONS:

Intra-articular HA administration alone is not superior to conventional AC treatments, and the addition of intra-articular HA administration to conventional therapies does not provide significant added benefits. HA administration in AC patients who are receiving conventional therapies should be evaluated to avoid unnecessary medical expenditure.

• Authors: Lin-Chien Lee, Fu-Kong Lieu, Hung-Lin Lee, Tao-Hsin Tung
• Journal: BioMed research international (Biomed Res Int) Vol. 2015 Pg. 314120 ( 2015) ISSN: 2314-6141 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 25802845 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Review, Systematic Review)

Chemical References

• Hyaluronic Acid

Topics

• Bursitis (drug therapy)
• Humans
• Hyaluronic Acid (administration & dosage)
• Injections, Intra-Articular (methods)
• Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
• Shoulder Joint (drug effects)
• Shoulder Pain (drug therapy)