The active treatment did not confer immediate benefits to pain or function in
mature adults with rotator cuff disease. However, greater improvements were
apparent at follow-up, particularly in shoulder function and strength, suggesting that
benefits with active treatment may take longer to manifest.
The authors go on to discuss some elements of the active treatment which
warranted consideration. This included that the standardised treatment may have
failed to adequately allow for specific physical impairments. Additionally they
mention that there was a number of people who failed to complete the exercise
programme in the unsupervised period, however when they were removed from the
results the analysis didn’t differ, so adherence doesn’t seem to have affected
outcome. The authors compare their results to other similar trials and the possible
reasons for differing results