Recruiting

Exercise Programs

Sponsor:

University of Florida

Code:

NCT07489937

Conditions

Shoulder Pain

Healthy Adult

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 45

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

Isotonic exercise program

Plyometric exercise program

Study Details

Brief summary:

The purpose of this study is to understand acute tendon changes after two exercise programs. We will invite individuals with and without shoulder pain to participate in this study. Every individual will participate in both exercise programs separated by up to 15 days. The researcher will evaluate the shoulder tendon using ultrasound before each exercise program and at 1 hour, 6 hours and 24 hours after each exercise program. The researcher will also evaluate self reported pain, pain sensitivity testing, and self reported questionnaires. We will compare the tendon changes after each exercise program, as well as between participants with and without shoulder pain.

Conditions

Shoulder Pain

Healthy Adult

Study ID

NCT07489937

Start date

Apr 20, 2026

Status verified date

Feb, 2026

Completion date

Apr 1, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Apr 1, 2027

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 45

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

General inclusion criteria

1. Between 18 and 45 years of age
2. Able to perform physical activity with their shoulder (moderate arm exercise for 15 min, such as tennis or housework)

General exclusion criteria

1. Shoulder fracture
2. Frozen shoulder (>50% restriction in shoulder range of motion)
3. Shoulder surgery
4. Full rotator-cuff tears
5. Bilateral shoulder pain
6. Shoulder instability (history or positive apprehension test)
7. Corticosteroid injection in the last 6 weeks
8. Neurological diseases
9. Cardiological diseases
10. Systemic diseases (rheumatic diseases, autoimmune diseases)
11. Uncontrolled diabetes
12. Pregnancy

Group-specific inclusion criteria

1. Shoulder pain group: report unilateral shoulder pain with an average shoulder pain score of≥ 3 in the last week.
2. Control group: report no shoulder pain within 6 months.

Study Design

Enrollment

24 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Crossover

Primary purpose

Other

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Isotonic exercise then Plyometric exercise

experimental: Plyometric exercise then Isotonic exercise

Interventions

Isotonic exercise program

Participants will perform two isotonic exercises, prone shoulder external rotation and shoulder elevation. The exercises will be performed at a pace of 2-second for both concentric and eccentric phases. For each exercise, participants will perform two sets of 8 repetitions, followed by a third set performed until fatigue. Fatigue will be determined using the Repetition in Reserve Scale, which asks the participant to perform exercises until they reach a self-selected number corresponding to the number of repetitions left that a participant could still complete if needed. We will ask participants to continue the third set until they reach a Repetition in Reserve number of 1. The rest period will be 30 seconds between sets and 2 minutes between exercises. The exercise load will be selected after manual maximal isometric strength testing using a handheld dynamometer. A 40% of the strength testing will be used for exercises in both groups following strength guidelines.

Plyometric exercise program

Participants will perform two isotonic exercises, prone shoulder external rotation and shoulder elevation. The exercises will be performed at a pace of 1-second for the eccentric phases followed by an explosive concentric phase. For each exercise, participants will perform two sets of 8 repetitions, followed by a third set performed until fatigue. Fatigue will be determined using the Repetition in Reserve Scale, which asks the participant to perform exercises until they reach a self-selected number corresponding to the number of repetitions left that a participant could still complete if needed. Participants will complete the third set until they reach a Repetition in Reserve number of 1. The rest period will be 30 seconds between sets and 2 minutes between exercises. The exercise load will be selected after manual maximal isometric strength testing using a handheld dynamometer. A 40% of the strength testing will be used for exercises in both groups following strength guidelines.

Primary outcome measure

  • Supraspinatus tendon thickness [ Time Frame: From enrollment to 1 hour, 6 hours, and 24 hours after each exercise program. ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Ignacio A Raguzzi, PT

352-665-4947iraguzzi@ufl.edu

Locations

University of Florida

Recruiting

Gainesville, Florida, United States, 32610

Contacts

Federico Pozzi, PT, MA, PhD

352-273-6957fpozzi@phhp.ufl.edu

Principal Investigator:

Ignacio A Raguzzi, PT

More Information

Sponsor

University of Florida

Last update posted

Apr 22, 2026

Last verified

Feb, 2026

Keywords

  • rotator cuff related shoulder pain
  • rotator cuff tendinopathy
  • shoulder pain
  • tendon thickness
  • exercise
  • subacromial pain
  • ultrasound

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by University of Florida on 2026-04-22.