THE ACCURACY AND EFFICACY OF SHOULDER INJECTIONS IN RESTRICTIVE CAPSULITIS

Forty patients with restrictive capsulitis were randomly allocated to receive either an anterior or posterior approach injection into the gl enohumeral joint. The injection constituents were hydrocortisone, lign ocaine and urograffin, which acts as a radiographic marker enabling th e accuracy of injection to be determined on post-injection X-rays. The patients' response to the injection was assessed at 6 weeks. The glen ohumeral joint was injected with a 95% accuracy using the anterior app roach compared with a 50% accuracy using the posterior approach (p = < 0.02). A statistically significant difference in response to intra-art icular or extra-articular injection was not demonstrated. The anterior approach for injecting the glenohumeral joint is recommended.