Intra-Articular Injection of Botulinum Toxin Type A for Shoulder Pain

Chronic shoulder pain unresponsive to oral medications and intra-articular corticosteroids is an important treatment problem, especially for the young, very old and those with complex medical problems that preclude joint reconstructive surgery. We hypothesized that intra-articular botulinum toxin could provide important joint pain relief in these patients. This is a prospective, double blined, placebo controlled 6month trial with an open label extension phase when pain returns to baseline levels (re-injection with 100units of botulinum toxin and 6 months followup thereafter). Comparisons: Intra-articular injection of botulinum toxin type a will be compared to intra-articular injection of placebo ( lidocaine then saline).