Despite the well-known physical and mental benefits of exercise, a study by Jean-Sébastien Roy's team suggests that patient education and expectations are key factors in treating shoulder pain.
Jean-Sébastien Roy, physiotherapist, professor at Université Laval and member of the RQRD, and Marc-Olivier Dubé, a doctoral student in his laboratory, looked into the best interventions for dealing with shoulder pain and its chronicisation. To find out more, they worked with 123 patients with shoulder pain and compared three approaches: muscle strengthening exercises, motor control exercises (the ability to make dynamic postural adjustments and direct the body and limbs to perform a given movement) and education sessions (exchanges with experts and advice). Their study showed that education provided the best results. Their results also indicate that patients with positive expectations of the interventions saw an improvement in their symptoms. Although exercise has positive effects on pain and health, education is an effective pain management tool that should not be neglected.
Since this study, Marc-Olivier Dubé has benefited from the QPRN’s Broaden your scope program to do an internship in an Australian laboratory in Brisbane. He is now pursuing his career as a postdoctoral fellow at a research centre in Melbourne.
