Frozen shoulder syndrome: comparison of oral route corticosteroid and intra-articular corticosteroid injection

Twenty-six patients with frozen shoulder syndrome (Stage 2 and 3) were included in this study conducted at Dr. Kariadi General Hospital, Semarang, Indonesia and randomly allocated into 2 groups: 40 mg triamcinolone intra-articular injection and triamcinolone oral tablets. The result showed that triamcinolone intra-articular injection group "cured" rate was 5.8 times higher at week one compared to the triamcinolone tablet group. Sixty-two percent of the cases with triamcinolone intra-articular injection achieved their "cured" condition after one week of therapy, compared with only 14% of the triamcinolone tablets group. We conclude that, intra-articular corticosteroid injection provide faster improvement compared to oral route.