Pain Neuroscience Education Following Arthroscopic Rotator Cuff Repair for Patients With Rotator Cuff Tears: A Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Objective: This trial examines the efficacy of the pain neuroscience education on clinical outcomes in patients with arthroscopic rotator cuff repair.

Design: A total of 36 participants undergoing arthroscopic rotator cuff repair were assigned to either the experimental group ( n = 18) or control group ( n = 18) in this randomized study. A 6-wk-long conventional physiotherapy program was administered for both groups. In addition, a pain neuroscience education protocol was administered for the experimental group for a whole period of 6 wks (1 session/week, 15-60 mins per session). The primary outcomes were to compare pretreatment and posttreatment scores of the experimental versus control groups on the pain and disability. Our secondary outcomes included the comparisons of scores on the catastrophizing, anxiety, depression, kinesiophobia, and quality of life. The participants were assessed both at baseline and posttreatment.

Results: The improvement in pain catastrophizing, anxiety, depression, and kinesiophobia was greater in the experimental group ( P < 0.05). The improvement was similar in both groups in terms of the rest of outcome measures.

Conclusions: This study showed that the pain neuroscience education improved only psychological aspects of the chronic pain in arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. Therefore, adding pain neuroscience education to the conventional program might be useful to improve pain catastrophizing, anxiety, depression, and kinesiophobia in patients with arthroscopic rotator cuff repair.