Shoulder pain and central sensitisation
Increased central sensitivity is associated with greater shoulder disability in people with musculoskeletal shoulder symptoms: a cross-sectional study
Shoulder pain is common in the general population but is slow to resolve, with about 50 per cent of people still reporting pain and disability after 18 months. Not much is known about the factors contributing to chronicity.
Research by Curtin University researchers and physiotherapists Leanda McKenna, Tamara Lowry and Darren Beales surveyed patients with shoulder pain and showed that about half had increased central sensitivity and one-fifth have neuropathic pain. The results suggest that clinicians should screen patients with shoulder pain for central sensitivity and neuropathic pain and incorporate appropriate interventions into management and care.
The Physiotherapy Research Foundation (PRF) has summarised key messages from the research study’s findings featured in the August 2025 edition of InMotion and produced this infographic.
This infographic is a Physiotherapy Research Foundation (PRF) initiative.
Click on the image below to access a printable A3 file.
About the authors
Dr Leanda McKenna APAM is a researcher and lecturer at Curtin University and a clinical physiotherapist at Fiona Stanley Hospital. Leanda has been involved in shoulder pain research for almost 20 years.
Tamara Lowry is a clinical physiotherapist working in the NDIS sector at Rocky Bay in a paediatric scope and also works at the paediatric private clinic Power of Play Physio.
Darren Beales is a Senior Research Fellow at Curtin University and a practising Specialist Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist (As conferred by the Australian College of Physiotherapists 2008). His research aims to improve understanding of the biopsychosocial nature of pain disorders from a lifespan perspective, and facilitate integration of this knowledge into clinical practice and public policy.