Shoulder Pain: Surgery Doesn’t Work Better Than Other Therapies .

Two recent placebo-controlled trials found that subacromial decompression surgery provided no benefit over placebo surgery. Current guidelines have provided conflicting recommendations and the number of arthroscopies performed each year continue to rise. BMJ Rapid Recommendations conducted a clinical practice guideline in response to the potentially practice changing evidence and concluded that almost all informed patients would choose to avoid surgery, as there is no added benefit and there is risk of harm. Surgeons' practice should be informed by latest high quality evidence and trustworthy practice guidelines to ensure best quality care is provided to patients and health care resources are used optimally.