By Colm Gorey
A new study claims patients undergoing one of the most common surgical procedures in the western world might be wasting their time.
A team of researchers from the University of Helsinki has spent the past two years comparing the results of patients living with shoulder impingement syndrome who underwent surgery with those who had placebo surgery where nothing took place.
The Finnish Shoulder Impingement Arthroscopy Controlled Trial involved 189 patients living with persistent shoulder pain for at least three months and who had been given a series of steroid injections, physiotherapy and conservative treatment.