Ther Umsch. 2001 Aug; 58(8): 475-9.

[Conservative treatment of shoulder disorders]

Caravatti M, Jan-Wehrle S, Uebelhart D.

Universitätsspital Zürich, Rheumaklinik, Institut für Physikalische Medizin, Zürich. miguel.caravatti@ruz.usz.ch

The extreme complexity of the shoulder joint results from the coordinated activity of five different articulations and the supporting soft-tissue girdle. Any perturbation of this system has deleterious biomechanical consequences to the shoulder muscular girdle integrity and will eventually lead to pain and functional limitations. A functional diagnosis of the lesion will always be a prerequisite for a targeted conservative therapy. Treating pain is often the basis of the treatment, but it should rapidly be implemented with a broad range of physiotherapeutic techniques and manual therapy as well when appropriate. The guidelines for therapy include an active stabilisation program in case of joint instability and passive mobilisation whenever functional limitations are present. This paper deals with the different problem-oriented interdisciplinary therapeutic modalities used in frequent shoulder problems.