To Analyse the Effect of Coracohumeral Ligament Stretching in Adhesive Capsulitis using Ultrasonography

Purpose: Adhesive capsulitis is the most common shoulder pathology with pain and progressive loss of shoulder movements with greater loss of external rotation and presence of capsular pattern. Interventions targeting the primary areas of pathology of coracohumeral ligament (CHL) and rotator interval capsule are still lacking. There are no experimental studies using musculoskeletal ultrasound to evaluate the efficacy of CHL stretching in adhesive capsulitis. Methodology: A total of 14 participants with stage 2 adhesive capsulitis were grouped into experimental and control group. The experimental group received CHL stretching and control group received therapeutic exercises for 2 weeks. The baseline measures includes thickness of CHL using musculoskeletal ultrasound and joint specific measures of pain severity, shoulder external rotation and shoulder elevation range of motion (ROM) and the functional outcome measure (Tamil SPADI) were measured. Outcome measures were re-evaluated following 2 weeks of intervention. Result: The current study results showed that there is significant decrease in thickness of CHL (p- 0.03), and increase in external rotation ROM (p-0.05) and improvement with pain (p-0.003) and the functional outcome (p-0.02) in experimental group. Conclusion: The positional stretching of CHL was found to reduce thickness of CHL and improved joint specific measure and functional outcome in adhesive capsulitis.