Post-stroke shoulder pain: Nociceptive or neuropathic?

Acute rehabilitation after stroke can be adversely affected by complications such as pain in the hemiplegic shoulder. The onset of hemiplegic shoulder pain (HSP) can compromise functional gains, and has been shown to contribute to longer term disability . The first systematic study of the incidence of post-stroke shoulder pain (PSSP) found that 40% of patients were affected during the 3–6months following survival of a stroke . In 25% of patients, pain occurred during the first two weeks after stroke . The prognosis at six months, however, appears to be reasonably good, with 80% of patients reporting improvement or complete recovery in the context of prompt appropriate acute management (physiotherapy, shoulder injection and low dose amitriptyline for sleep disturbance and nocturnal pain) .
Source: Pain - Category: Anesthesiology Authors: Tags: Commentaries Source Type: research