Trial of an injection to reduce shoulder pain for people with Motor Neurone Disease

Chronic shoulder pain is a common and distressing symptom for a large number of people with motor neurone disease. Treatments which are sometimes used for this problem include physiotherapy, pain killers and injections into the shoulder. Unfortunately, despite these treatments the pain frequently is not well controlled. Recently, a number of rheumatologists around the world have been using an injection to numb the nerve that supplies pain fibres to the shoulder in. This nerve is the suprascapular nerve. The results of studies to date have proven that this form of therapy is safe and works effectively to reduce pain and improve function. However, more information is required to establish this as a useful additional treatment in people with MND. Researchers at the Repatriation Hospital (Dr Michael Shanahan, Dr Peter Allcroft and Karen Glaetzer) are studying this treatment to see whether it is effective in reducing pain in people with motor neurone disease. In order to establish whether the treatment is effective in this group, we are performing a trial where we inject around the nerve at a point just above the shoulder blade with a mixture of local anaesthetic and anti-inflammatory steroid and then assess whether this helps to reduce the pain. We then compare the result of the injection with a group of people who do not receive the active injection, but rather a placebo injection of sterile normal saline (salt water). Placebo injections are an accepted practice to ascertain if the improvement in pain is due to the medication used or just the process of injecting into the nerve. We are inviting you to be involved