Methods
The study design was a randomized clinical
trial. Ethical approval for this study was
granted by the Research Ethics Committee
of Tehran University of Medical Sciences
(grant number 90-9-28-1992). Subjects
were provided with information booklets
explaining the purpose of the study and
signed informed consent documents prior
to participation. Subjects were free to withdraw
from the study at any time. This study
was conducted in Hazrat Rasool-e-Akram
Hospital located in Tehran (Iran) between
2011and 2012. All measurements were taken
before and after a 6-week intervention
period.
Subjects: A total of 98 subjects was initially
recruited from Hazrat Rasool-e- Akram hospital sports medicine and orthopedic
clinics and judged to meet the criteria
for the study. Twenty six subjects did not
fulfill the inclusion criteria (Fig 1). Inclusion
and exclusion criteria were assessed
for each subject based on a clinical examination
performed by the first author. The
inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) Male
and female mentally fitted between the ages
of 18 to 75 years; (2) Unilateral shoulder
pain of more than one month localized (anterior
and/or anterolateral) to the acromion;
(3) Tenderness to palpation of the rotator
cuff tendons; (4) Positive impingement
tests, or a painful arc of movement (60°–
120°) ;(5) Pain produced or increased during
flexion and/or abduction of the symptomatic
shoulder.
All subjects tested positive for impingement
tests (which included the Hawkins,
Neer, and Empty can tests) and underwent
a full screening of cervical and shoulder
ROM, resisted motions, and special tests.
No single impingement test has 100% sensitivity
or 100% specificity. Therefore, to
correctly identify patients with shoulder
impingement, a combination of clinical
tests is recommended. According to Ure et
al. findings , multiple tests were able to correctly
distinguish SIS from other shoulder
pathologies in 86% of cases(21-22). Exclusion criteria were as follows: (1)
cervical or shoulder symptoms reproduced
by a cervical screening exam; (2) abnormal
results with reflex or thoracic outlet tests;
(3) symptoms of numbness or tingling in
the upper extremity; (4) pregnancy, or (5) a
history of the followings: onset of symptoms
due to traumatic injury, glenohumeral
joint dislocation, acromioclavicular joint
separation, shoulder fracture, surgery on
the shoulder, fibromyalgia, use of any
treatment within three months. Main participants
were 72 SIS patients who were randomly
allocated into two groups: (1)
Scapular Stabilization based Exercise Therapy
group (ET) and (2) Physical therapy
group (PT).
Random allocation of the subjects was
done by using a random number table and
block random sampling; A: ET; B: PT (a
block size of 4).
Block Size: Block 1: AABB
Block 2: ABAB
Block 3: BBAA
Block 4: BABA
Block 5: ABBA
Block 6: BAAB
The subjects who were included in the
study signed university-approved informed
consent forms and completed demographic
data sheets. Four subjects were excluded at
the intervention stage and three subjects in
ET group due to irregular attendance at
therapy sessions, travel and an accident and
one subject in PT group due to irregular
attendance at therapy sessions (Flowchart. 1).
In addition to inclusion-exclusion criteria,
the clinical evaluation included assessment
of pain, active shoulder external rotation
and abduction range, forward head
posture, mid-thoracic curve, forward shoulder
translation, scapular protraction & rota-
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4 MJIRI, Vol. 28.87. 27 August 2014 http://mjiri.iums.ac.ir
tion and Pectoralis minor length were done
pre and post intervention.
It must be noted that the participants were
blinded in each block. The patients were
treated on different days and unaware of
the other group. Also, the examiner who
assessed was blinded to group allocation
and clinical data. The interventions for both
groups were done by two clinicians that
were unaware of the treatments groups.
One supervised exercise therapy for ET
group on even days and the other did physical
therapy for PT group on odd days.
The power analysis of the study was performed
to detect a 10% differences in pain
and shoulder abduction with α=0/05 and a
power of 80%, a sample size of 36 per
group was required.
Pain: Subjects were asked to record their
maximal pain during the movements based
on visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain.
The VAS used in the study was a 10-cm
line where the 0 was marked as no pain and
the 10 as the worst pain imaginable (23). Shoulder Range of Motion (ROM): The
ranges of active external rotation and abduction
were measured by a standard goniometer
in both symptomatic and asymptomatic
shoulders as follows: Shoulder abduction
was measured in the seated chair
position, as in flexion, with the trunk upright.
The arm was actively elevated in the
strict coronal plane with the thumb pointed
up toward the ceiling to allow the required
Flowchart 1. Study profile for participants in ET and PT groups.
A. Moezy, et al.
MJIRI, Vol. 28.87. 27 August 2014 5 http://mjiri.iums.ac.ir
external rotation necessary to avoid impingement
of the greater tuberosity on the
acromion process. Once active end-range
was achieved the measurements were documented.
Shoulder external rotation was
measured in supine with the hips and knees
flexed to approximately 45 degrees. The
tested arm was supported on the table in 90
degrees of abduction, elbow flexed to 90
degrees, the forearm in midway between
pronation/supination and the wrist in neutral.
A towel roll was placed under the humerus
to ensure neutral horizontal positioning;
which required the humerus to be level
to the acromion process based on visual
inspection. Once positioned, the participant
was asked to rotate the arm into external
rotation to the end available range without
discomfort. The participant was instructed
not to lift the lower back during this measurement.
Once active end-range was
achieved the measurement was recorded
(24). Forward Head Posture (FHP): To measure
FHP, a lateral photograph was then taken
of the cervicothoracic region, using a
Canon Camera (Model: IXY digital 3000
IS).The camera was placed 2 meters from
the subject and mounted on a tripod, leveled
with a bubble spirit level to control
frontal and sagittal angles. This procedure
has been used in previous published studies
(25-27) . The method chosen to measure
the FHP for the current investigation was
direct measurement from lateral view photographs
of head and shoulder posture. To
measure the angles, an A4-sized sheet of
graph paper was photocopied onto transparency
film for photocopiers. The graph
paper had vertical and horizontal lines
spaced at 1-mm intervals. The transparency
film was then placed over the photograph
and aligned so that one of the vertical lines
was placed over the plumb line and the intersection
of two vertical and horizontal
lines coincided with the point the C7 marker
came in contact with the skin. To calculate
the position of the head in relation to
C7 (C7-tragus angle), the angle between
the horizontal line and the line connecting
tragus of the ear to spinous process of C7 , was measured with a goniometer and documented
in degrees.
Mid-Thoracic Curve: This curvature was
measured by palpating and marking the
spinous processes of the second thoracic
vertebra (T2) and the twelfth thoracic vertebra
(T12) by counting spinous processes,
beginning with C7. The researcher placed
the tip of the flexi ruler on T2 and conform
it to the subject's spine, marking the flexi
ruler at T12. The flexi ruler was transferred
to a sheet of white paper, and the curve of
the flexi ruler was traced. A metric ruler
was used to measure the length and the
flexi ruler was used to measure the height
of the curve in centimeters. The following
formula was used to determine midthoracic
curvature:
Mid - thoracic curvature = θ = 4 × [arc
tan (2 × H/L)]
where H = the height of the curve and L =
the length of the curve (Fig 3) (25). Midthoracic
curvature was measured and documented
in degrees for each subject.
Forward Shoulder Translation(FST):
FST was measured using a combination
square ruler (CL-01 model, E-Base measuring
Tools Co, Taiwan) consists of a 40-cm
to measure the distance from the wall to the
anterior tip of the subject's acromion process.
The patient stood in a relaxed position
with their heels against a wall. The anterior
tip of acromion process was marked and
the distance of the point and wall was
measured and documented in millimeter to
determine the amount of FST. FST was assessed
for both shoulders. This measurement
was done three times for each shoulFig.
1. Forward shoulder translation measurement
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der and the average was recorded as FST
(28) (Fig.1). Scapular Protraction & Rotation: Scapular
protraction and rotation were measured
with the subject standing, subjects nodded
the head and neck forward and backward
five times, then inhaled and exhaled deeply
to produce a natural, reproducible standing
posture and head and neck position (25). For determining scapular protraction, subjects
were asked to adopt a comfortable and
natural standing position. After palpation,
non-allergenic adhesive markers 6 mm in
diameter were attached to the following
points (Fig. 2):
A= the root of the scapular spine
B= A mark on the thoracic spine corresponding
to the root of the scapular spine
C= A mark on the thoracic spine corresponding
to the inferior angle of the scapula
D= the inferior angle of the scapula
E= the tip of the acromion of the scapula.
The following formula was used to determine
scapular protraction:
Scapular Protraction = BAE
AE
Line BAE = the distance from the mark
on the thoracic spine corresponding to the
root of the scapular spine to the tip of the
acromion.
Line AE= the distance from the root of
the scapular spine to the tip of the acromion.
Scapular r