A Novel Treatment for Combined Adhesive Capsulitis and Glenohumeral Osteoarthritis - Case Study: RELIEF® Treatment.
Erin Sullivan, Babak Movassaghi, Aimee Kamat and 2 others
PMID 40466117WHAT IT FOUND
A woman with frozen shoulder and osteoarthritis reported pain relief and improved range of motion after ultrasound-guided hydrodissection using saline and amnion tissue under local anesthetic, after prior therapy and steroid injections did not help.
This is a single case, not evidence the treatment works.
Key findings
01After two ultrasound-guided hydrodissection treatments with hypertonic saline and amnion allograft under local lidocaine, the VAS pain score fell from 8 to 3 and remained 3 up to 6 months after the second treatment.
02The paper reports a 35% improvement in shoulder flexion and abduction and a 10-degree increase in internal and external rotation maintained up to 6 months after the second treatment.
03Both treatments were tolerated with no complications, and no immobilization or bracing was used post-procedure.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
This is a single case report, so it cannot show that the treatment works for other patients. The improvement occurred after several things were given together, including hypertonic saline hydrodissection, amnion allograft, local lidocaine, and post-treatment gentle range-of-motion exercises, so the contribution of any single component cannot be separated. There was no control group, blinding, or random allocation, and the reported follow-up was only to 6 months. The patient had received physical therapy, massage, chiropractic care, and corticosteroid injections before the RELIEF treatments, so prior care may have influenced her status. The text reports an ASIS shoulder score change, while Table 2 reports ASES shoulder scores, so the functional score outcome is internally inconsistent.
Declared interests
Authors report employment or advisory roles at Vitruvia Holdings, which currently provides the RELIEF treatment.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that the amnion tissue caused the improvement. The treatments also included hypertonic saline hydrodissection, local lidocaine, and post-treatment gentle range-of-motion exercises, and this was a single case with no control group or blinding.