Background: Frozen shoulder affects up to 5% of the global population. As of 2016, the incidence was estimated to affect at least 2 of every 1,000 people in England. From the epidemiology data of muscle disease, the prevalence of neck and shoulder ache in Thailand was found to be 38.5%. Women were at greater risk than men. The disease happens typically to people aged between 50 to 60 years old. About two-thirds of the patients with shoulder ache from shoulder joint inflammation could be victims of frozen shoulder.

Objective: To investigate the efficacy of court-type traditional Thai massage (CTTM) versus topical diclofenac (TD) on the quality of life related to shoulder functional ability (SFA), disabilities of the arm, shoulder and hand (DASH) and pain intensity (PI) among patients with frozen shoulder.

Materials and Methods: The study design was a randomised single-blind controlled trial. Sixty female patients were randomly assigned to receive CTTM or TD for 6 weeks. Outcome measurements were performed after a 4-week follow-up period. WHOQOL-BREF (Thai version) was used for the quality of life assessment. DASH questionnaires and visual analogue scale (VAS) were used to gauge shoulder functional ability and pain intensity.

Results: Demographic characteristics between CTTM- and TD-patients were equivalent. Quality of life, DASH and VAS scores between 2 groups were not significantly different at baseline. The four-week follow-up period after treatment indicated some improvements on quality of life, shoulder symptoms, functional ability and pain intensity in both groups. In addition, CTTM was found to be superior to TD when treating frozen shoulder.

Conclusion: The present study demonstrated short-term follow-up beneficial effects of CTTM comparable with TD on quality of life as well as shoulder functional ability, and pain intensity among frozen shoulder patients.