Feasibility Study of Physiotherapy Protocols for Neck and Shoulder Conditions

PhysiotherapistsTwenty-eight physiotherapists working in primary care were invited to participate in the feasibility study. These physiotherapists were also from the authors’ professional network, and were different to those in the first phase. Physiotherapists were eligible to participate if they treated at least four new patients with neck and/or shoulder complaints per month.
PatientsPatients with sufficient mastery of the Dutch language were eligible for participation if they had experience of subacromial pain syndrome, biceps tendinosis, shoulder instability or non-specific MSK pain of the neck and/or shoulder (not caused by acute trauma (fracture or rupture) or by systemic disease) [21 , 22 (link)]. Patients were excluded if their neck and/or shoulder disorder was caused by a specific pathology (e.g. shoulder pain with loss of active and passive range of motion [frozen shoulder], vertebral fracture, tendon rupture, Parkinson’s disease, herniated nucleus pulposus, cervical stenosis), except for subacromial pain syndrome, biceps tendinosis and shoulder instability.