[Evaluation of treatment with intra-articular injections in osteoarticular pathology of the shoulder in primary care].

Main Objective: To evaluate the clinical response at 24weeks after injection, measured as pain relief and functional recovery, in painful shoulder syndrome (PSS) in primary care (PC).

Design: Longitudinal case series with injection treatment in the scapulohumeral joint, describing functionality and pain evolution before and at 24weeks post injection.

Location: Non-urban primary care centres.

Participants: Patients with osteoarticular shoulder pathology susceptible to injection, failure of pharmacological treatment and rating on the visual analogue scale (VAS) ≥4 or constant score (CS) ≤70.

Interventions: Intra-articular injection of corticosteroid and local anaesthetic into the scapulohumeral joint, describing its evolution at 1, 4, 12 and 24weeks post injection.

Main Measurements: Infiltration response according to EVA before and after, CS before and after, number of infiltrations, side effects, temporary inability to work (TIL).

Results: Sixty-six patients receiving injection, mean age 51.1years (SD 14.7), 57.6% were women and 63.3% were injection in the right shoulder. A 22.7% required TIL and were discharged with a median of 14days (range 7-56days). They required an injection (80.3%) and the most frequent injection pathology was rotator cuff tendinitis (90.9%). They suffered mild side effects (9.4%). We found a decrease in pain from severe to mild and a functional improvement from poor to good. The variables: being retired (OR: 37.82, P=.001) and having an EVA score prior to injection >8 (OR: 15.67, P=.055, almost significant) were associated with poor response.

Conclusions: Intra-articular administration of corticosteroids in PSS reduces pain and provides functional improvement after the first week after injection, and is maintained in the long term. This allows a quick recovery to work after an injection at two weeks reducing recovery time by 50%, with few side effects.