Management of post-traumatic stiffness of the shoulder following upper limb trauma with manipulation under anaesthetic

Abstract

Background A proportion of patients who sustain upper limb fractures develop post-traumatic stiffness (PTS), which may progress in a similar way to primary frozen shoulder (PFS). We have had success in treating PFS with manipulation under anaesthetic (MUA) and therefore treated PTS using MUA. Oxford Shoulder Scores (OSS), range of motion (ROM) data pre- and post-MUA, and the need for repeat procedure were compared. Methods Sixty-four patients with PTS following an upper limb fracture, unresponsive to conservative measures, were seen between 1 January 1999 and 1 November 2015. Thirty-two patients had sustained a proximal humeral fracture, six of whom had a concurrent shoulder dislocation. MUA was performed using a standard technique. The results were compared with 487 PFS patients undergoing the same procedure. Results There was no significant difference in ROM change between the groups. Improvement in OSS was slightly greater in the PFS group (17 versus 14, p = 0.005) but, upon subgroup analysis of the PTS group, no significant difference was found for patients presenting with humeral fractures alone. Conclusions MUA results for PTS following upper limb fracture are comparable to MUA for PFS. We therefore recommend MUA in PTS cases where conservative methods have failed.