The Efficacy of a Pain Neuroscience Education Program in Chronic Shoulder Pain: A Randomized, Single - Blinded Trial

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of a pain neuroscience education program completed by patients with shoulder pain. Methods: A randomized controlled trial was performed. Fifty-five patients satisfied the eligibility criteria, agreed to participate, and were randomized into an experimental group (n = 27) or control group (n =28). A manual therapy and exercises program was administered for both groups. In addition, a pain neuroscience education protocol was administered for the experimental group for a whole period of 4 weeks (1 session/week, 75mins per session). The measurements taken included the active range of motion, pain, disability, catastrophizing, kinesiophobia, and therapeutic alliance. The outcomes were captured at baseline and after 5 weeks of the intervention. The primary outcome analyzed was the group × time interaction. Results: The 2 × 2 analysis of variance revealed a significant group × time interaction for the active range of motion (F = 15.27; P = .011), disability (F = 6.14; P = .01), catastrophizing (F = 8.79; P = .01), kinesiophobia (F = 7.62; P = .008), and therapeutic alliance (P = .03) in favor of the experimental group. Conclusions: This study showed that the patients with shoulder pain who completed the pain neuroscience program achieved significantly better results in terms of their active range of motion, disability, catastrophizing, kinesiophobia, and therapeutic alliance than compared to those achieved by the control group. Therefore, pain neuroscience education may be beneficial in the treatment of patients with shoulder pain.