Managing shoulder pain in manual wheelchair users: a scoping review of conservative treatment interventions.

The review did not assess study quality or treatment effectiveness, so it cannot guide which intervention to choose. Only 21 studies were found, and they used different interventions, durations, participants and outcome measures. Exercise type and dose were not settled: programme duration varied from 6 weeks to 6 months and frequency varied from daily to three times a week. Good adherence to home-based exercise was reported in only 36% to 73% of participants. Most studies were male dominant and focused on specific disabilities, so results may not apply to all wheelchair users. Physical activity level, years of wheelchair use and duration of pain were often not reported. The paper gives different counts of randomized trials: 8 among experimental studies and 9 of 21 studies. Case reports on corticosteroid injections and athletic wheelchair users were excluded, so some treatment areas are missing.

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest and received no financial support.

Do not read this as proof that exercise or other conservative treatments reduce shoulder pain. It mapped 21 studies and did not assess their effectiveness, so it cannot say which treatment works.