HUNDREDS of Oxfordshire residents will be invited to take part in a new national study looking to improve treatment for debilitating shoulder pain.

Researchers will be asking for the help of local GP surgeries as they look to recruit 500 residents to help find a way to ensure that people receive the care that is best for them and avoid unnecessary investigations and treatments.

Shoulder problems, such as shoulder impingement and frozen shoulder, affect one in five adults in the UK often becoming so painful it can affect sleep and day-to-day life.

The study will be led by Keele University and co-ordinated locally by a team from Oxford University’s Primary Care Clinical Trials Unit.

Professor of Evidence-Based Medicine at Oxford University, Carl Heneghan, said: "In up to 40 per cent of patients, the pain can last for as long as 12 months, yet there is little evidence to detect those most likely to benefit from interventions.

"This novel program of work aims to change this by identifying those who will gain the most from interventions such as surgery.

"Oxford University’s world-class infrastructure for carrying out clinical trials in community settings allows us to support such important national studies, and we’re keen for local GP surgeries to contact us to get involved in this particular project.”

The £2.7million study is being joint-funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and Arthritis Research UK and will recruit 1,000 patients nationally.