Effects of supervised home-based exercise therapy on disability and function in patients with shoulder pain

Purpose: Although home-based exercises are widely used in rehabilitation protocols, sometimes clinicians do not correctly check if patients perform the exercises properly. The objective of our study was to investigate the effects of supervised home exercise protocols on the disability and function in patients with shoulder pain. Methods: Patients who have shoulder pain and scheduled to physiotherapy clinic for home-based exercises randomly assigned to Supervised Group (N=21) and Control Group (N=20). All volunteers were instructed “home-based exercises” program for shoulder including pendulum, wand and isometric exercises. Shoulder Pain and Disability Index (SPADI) was used for measuring disability and The Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) was used for assessing functions. All patients were evaluated at baseline and after six weeks exercise program. The Supervised Group was controlled biweekly whether they performed their exercises properly; mistaken or forgotten exercises were reminded again. Results: After 6 weeks, there were significant improvements regarding shoulder disability and function in both of the groups (p<0.05). There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of the DASH and SPADI score changes in six weeks (p>0.05). Conclusion: Although home-based exercises are useful tools in managing shoulder pain and functions, according to our results, auditing home-based exercises for shoulder pain could not contribute additional benefit in terms of disability and function