Minireviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Orthop. Mar 18, 2015; 6(2): 263-268
Published online Mar 18, 2015. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v6.i2.263
Frozen shoulder: A systematic review of therapeutic options
Harpal Singh Uppal, Jonathan Peter Evans, Christopher Smith
Harpal Singh Uppal, Jonathan Peter Evans, Christopher Smith, Shoulder Unit, Princess Elizabeth Orthopaedic Centre, Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, EX2 5DW Exeter, United Kingdom
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to this work.
Conflict-of-interest: There are no conflicts of interests for any authors.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Christopher Smith, FRCS, Shoulder Unit, Princess Elizabeth Orthopaedic Centre, Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, Barrack Road, EX2 5DW Exeter, United Kingdom. christophersmith3@nhs.net
Telephone: +44-13-92411611
Received: May 28, 2014
Peer-review started: June 18, 2014
First decision: August 14, 2014
Revised: September 14, 2014
Accepted: October 1, 2014
Article in press: October 10, 2014
Published online: March 18, 2015
Core Tip

Core tip: Frozen shoulder is a common disease which causes significant morbidity. Despite over a hundred years of treating this condition the definition, diagnosis, pathology and most efficacious treatments are still largely unclear. This systematic review of current treatments for frozen shoulder reviews the evidence base behind physiotherapy, both oral and intra articular steroid, hydrodilatation, manipulation under anaesthesia and arthroscopic capsular release. Key areas in which future research could be directed are identified, in particular with regard to the increasing role of arthroscopic capsular release as a treatment.