Subacromial impingement syndrome (SIS) is the most common cause of shoulder pain. Although, there are conservative and surgical treatment options for SIS, there isn’t a gold standard therapy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of steroid phonophoresis in patients with SIS.

Sixty patients with SIS were participated in this prospective, single-blind randomized controlled study and randomly divided into 2 groups: intervention group (steroid phonophoresis) and control group (sham ultrasound). Hot pack and shoulder exercises including pendulum, range of motion (ROM) and strengthening exercises were given all patients. Steroid phonophoresis was applied with 1% hydrocortisone cream (2g/session hydrocortisone with 1.5watt/cm² ultrasound for 7minutes). All participants completed 15 treatment session and were assessed with visual analog scale for pain intensity, shoulder ROM, muscle strength, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Shoulder Rating Scale, Shoulder Disability Scale (SDS) and Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) for quality of life at pretreatment, post-treatment and 3rd month of treatment.

Baseline demographic characteristics of two groups were found similar except of their ages (the mean age±SD 49.57±6.73 for intervention group, 53.97±5.81 for control group). Statistically significant improvements were observed in all parameters in both groups at the end of the therapy and 3 months afterwards. There was a statistically significant difference in pain severity, shoulder ROM, UCLA Shoulder Rating Scale, SDS and NHP (pain, energy, sleep, social isolation, mobility) between two groups (P<0.05).

Steroid phonophoresis can be used as a well tolerated non-invasive therapy option for SIS.