Cognitive Functional Therapy for Treating Individuals With Chronic Shoulder Pain

Shoulder pain is a debilitating musculoskeletal condition with functional, physical, and psychological impacts. Interventions for chronic shoulder pain should address the biopsychosocial model, with Cognitive Functional Therapy emerging as a promising physiotherapy approach. Cognitive Functional Therapy approaches the multidimensional nature of pain, integrating physical and cognitive aspects. The aim of this randomized controlled trial is to compare the effects of Cognitive Functional Therapy with therapeutic exercise on biological aspects of pain (pain intensity, disability, function, perception of improvement/deterioration, and central pain processing), and psychosocial aspects of pain (sleep quality, self-efficacy, and biopsychosocial factors). The hypothesis of this study is that CFT will lead to greater improvements in these outcomes compared to therapeutic exercise.