Stratified Physiotherapeutic (Blended) Care in Neck and Shoulder Complaints

The aim of this cluster RCT is to investigate the clinical effectiveness of a Stratified Blended Approach for patients with neck and/or shoulder complaints on pain and disability over 9 months, compared to usual physiotherapy care.Our secondary aims are twofold:to investigate the effectiveness of the Stratified Blended Approach for patients with neck and/or shoulder complaints on pain intensity, health-related quality of life, illness perceptions, self-management skills, physical activity, exercise adherence, self-perceived effect and satisfaction at 3 and 9 months, compared to usual physiotherapy care;to investigate the cost-effectiveness and cost-utility of the Stratified Blended Approach for patients with neck and/or shoulder complaints, compared to usual physiotherapy care.In the Stratified Blended Approach arm, physiotherapists will match I) the content and intensity of physiotherapy care to the patient's risk of persistent disabling pain, categorized as low, medium or high (using the Keele STarT MSK Tool) and II) the mode of care delivery to the patient's suitability and willingness to receive blended care. The control arm will receive physiotherapy as usual.This study is financially supported by the Scientific College Physiotherapy (WCF), part of the Royal Dutch Association for Physiotherapy (KNGF). WCF has no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscripts. External peer-review took place during the funding process. The results will be publicly disclosed unreservedly.

Inclusion criteria: Patients with neck and/or shoulder complaints will be recruited within participating physiotherapy practices. In order to be eligible to participate in the data collection for the trial, a patient must meet all of the following criteria:consulting for physiotherapy for neck and/or shoulder complaints;one of the following physiotherapeutic diagnoses: subacromial complaints, biceps tendinosis, shoulder instability or non-specific musculoskeletal complaints of the neck and/or shoulder (not caused by acute trauma (fracture or rupture) or by any systemic disease);18 years or older;sufficient mastery of the Dutch language.Exclusion criteria: A patient who meets any of the following criteria will not be suitable to take part in the data collection for the trial:neck and/or shoulder complaints caused by specific pathology (e.g. shoulder pain with loss of active and passive range of motion (frozen shoulder), vertebral fracture, tendon rupture, Parkinson's disease, hernia nucleus pulposus, cervical stenosis), except for subacromial impingement, biceps tendinosis and shoulder instability.