Your physical therapist will assign specific exercises for you to do at home each week. Bring your ARC Rotator Cuff Home Exercise Program booklet with you to each visit, so your exercise assignments can be updated each time.
We take protecting your confidentiality very seriously. You will be assigned a study ID which will be used instead of your name during the course of the study. Participant information will be stored in locked cabinets and secure, password-protected research servers, accessible only to authorized study personnel.
Your information will only be accessed by authorized personnel for study purposes, including study staff, research monitors, auditors, and federal regulatory agencies, as needed.
No, the ARC study will not pay for the cost of your shoulder treatment. Your insurance company will be billed as it normally would for any surgery or physical therapy as well as follow-up doctor visits related to treatment. However, you will NOT have to pay for any tests or treatments done only for research [...]
A physical therapist with the ARC trial will contact your treating physical therapist to make sure they know about the study and receive the appropriate treatment instructions. You will also be given a packet with information about the study to take with you to your first physical therapy visit.
You can go to the certified physical therapist of your choice. If you do not already have a preferred physical therapist, our research staff can help refer you to one near you.
Yes, you and your physical therapist can determine how many physical therapy sessions you need to attend over the course of your treatment and how frequently.
The usual recommended physical therapy program is 1-2 times a week on average for 3 months (for non-operative treatment) or for 4 months (following surgery).
Yes. For example, if you are assigned to the non-operative (physical therapy) treatment group and later wish to have surgery on your shoulder, you can. We just ask that you wait 6 months before doing so, so we can accurately measure the effectiveness of your initial assigned treatment.
It takes 6 months for either treatment to be fully effective. Therefore, we ask participants to stick with their assigned treatment for at least 6 months.