Physiotherapy Treatment of Shoulder Rotator Cuff Tendinopathies. Global Postural Reeducation or Aerobic Exercise?

January 20, 2026 updated by: Javier Álvarez, Universidad Francisco de Vitoria

Global Postural Reeducation vs. Non-specific Therapeutic Exercise in the Treatment of Rotator Cuff Tendinopathies of the Shoulder

The goal of this clinical trial is to compare in participant population (patients with rotator cuff tendinopathy of the shoulder) the effect of a Global Postural Reeducation (GPR) program vs. a nonspecific therapeutic (aerobic) exercise program

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Participants who meet the inclusion criteria will be randomly distributed between group 1 "Global Postural Reeducation (GPR)", group 2 "exercise", or group 3 "no physical therapy intervention".

Group 1 participants will receive a physical therapy treatment using the GPR method for 6 weeks consisting of 1 weekly session lasting 40 min performing "frog on the ground" and "sitting" poses. Patients in this group will also perform self-postures at home daily for 10 minutes.

Group 2 participants perform training for 6 weeks using non-specific aerobic exercise consisting of a daily 20-minutes walk at a speed of 4-5 km/h.

Group 3 participants will not receive any physical therapy treatment and will serve as a control group.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

66

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Spain
    • Madrid
      • Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain, 28223
        • Francisco de Vitoria University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 60 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Shoulder pain with duration of at least 3 months
  • Positive painful arc test during abduction
  • At least one positive of the following tests: Hawkins-Kennedy test, Neer's sig, empty can test, drop arm or lift-off test

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Cervical radiculopathy
  • Moderate or severe degenerative arthropathy
  • Complete rotator cuff tear
  • History of shoulder or neck surgery
  • History of shoulder fractures or dislocation
  • Frozen shoulder or adhesive capsulitis
  • Previous interventions with steroid injections or physiotherapy 2 months before the start of the program

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Group 1. Global Postural Reeducation (GPR) intervention
Patients who will receive the Global Postural Reeducation (GPR) treatment protocol
Other: GPR Group
6-week treatment using the Global Postural Reeducation (GPR) method. 1 weekly session (45 min) with "frog on the ground" and "sitting" postures + daily home self-postures (10 min)
Experimental: Group 2. Non-specific Aerobic exercice intervention
Patients who will receive the non-specific aerobic exercise treatment protocol
Other: Aerobic Exercice Group
6-week nonspecific aerobic exercise treatment. Participants will take a daily walk (20 min)
No Intervention: Group 3. No physiotherapy intervention
Patients who will not receive physiotherapy treatment

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Changes in pain and disability after the treatment program
Time Frame: Baseline, one week after the last sessio, 3 months and 6 months after the last session
Shoulder Pain and Disability Index (SPADI). Minimum value=0. Maximun value=100
Baseline, one week after the last sessio, 3 months and 6 months after the last session
Changes in pain and disability after the treatment program
Time Frame: Baseline, one week after the last sessio, 3 months and 6 months after the last session
The Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (Quick-DASH). Minimum value=0. Maximun value=100
Baseline, one week after the last sessio, 3 months and 6 months after the last session

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Changes in pressure pain sensitivity
Time Frame: Pre, Post inmediate, and follow-up at 3 and 6 months
Pressure Pain Thresholds (PPH)
Pre, Post inmediate, and follow-up at 3 and 6 months
Changes in Range of Motion
Time Frame: Baseline, one week after the last sessio, 3 months and 6 months after the last session
Goniometer
Baseline, one week after the last sessio, 3 months and 6 months after the last session
Changes in pain after the treatment program
Time Frame: Baseline, one week after the last sessio, 3 months and 6 months after the last session
Numerical Pain Rating Scale (NPRS). Minimum value=0 (no pain). Maximun value=10 (the worst pain imaginable)
Baseline, one week after the last sessio, 3 months and 6 months after the last session
Changes in Quality of Life
Time Frame: Baseline, one week after the last session, 3 months and 6 months after the last session

Short-Form 12 Health Status Questionnaire. The response options form Likert-type scales that evaluate intensity or frequency.

Two summary scores are reported from the SF-12 - a mental component score (MCS-12) and a physical component score (PCS-12). The scores may be reported as Z-scores (difference compared to the population average, measured in standard deviations). The United States population average PCS-12 and MCS-12 are both 50 points. The United States population standard deviation is 10 points. So each 10 increment of 10 points above or below 50, corresponds to one standard deviation away from the average.
Baseline, one week after the last session, 3 months and 6 months after the last session

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Changes in stifness (cervical plexus, radial nerve, supraespinatus and infraespinatus muscles)
Time Frame: Baseline, one week after the last sessio, 3 months and 6 months after the last session
Ultrasound Shear-Wave elastography
Baseline, one week after the last sessio, 3 months and 6 months after the last session

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Universidad Francisco de Vitoria

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Javier Alvarez-González, Francisco de Vitoria University, Madrid, Spain
  • Study Director: Arturo Morales-Muñiz, PhD, Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
  • Study Chair: Alfredo Bravo-Sánchez, PhD, Francisco de Vitoria University, Madrid, Spain

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

October 30, 2022

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 31, 2024

Study Completion (Actual)

January 10, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 30, 2022

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 6, 2022

First Posted (Actual)

November 14, 2022

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 22, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 20, 2026

Last Verified

January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • RPGEI

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

All IPD that underlie results in a publication

IPD Sharing Time Frame

6 months after publication

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

Mail to the IP describing the interest and the purpose for accessing the data

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • SAP
  • ICF

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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