Comparison of radial extracorporeal shockwave therapy with ultrasound therapy in patients with lateral epicondylitis

• Published in: Journal of medical ultrasonics (2001) Vol. 47; no. 2; pp. 319 - 325
• Main Authors: Dedes, Vasileios, Tzirogiannis, Konstantinos, Polikandrioti, Maria, Dede, Ariadni Maria, Mitseas, Athanasios, Panoutsopoulos, Georgios I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Springer Singapore 01-04-2020; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adult; Care and treatment; Elbow; Ethics; Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy - methods; Female; Females; Growth factors; Humans; Imaging; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Original Article–Orthopedics; Orthopedics; Pain; Pain - etiology; Pain Management - methods; Pain Measurement; Quality of Life; Questionnaires; Radiology; Standard deviation; Statistical analysis; Tendinitis; Tendons; Tennis elbow; Tennis Elbow - complications; Tennis Elbow - therapy; Therapy; Treatment Outcome; Ultrasonic imaging; Ultrasonic Therapy - methods; Ultrasound; Young Adult; United States > US; ESWT; Ultrasound therapy; Musculoskeletal injuries; Tennis elbow
• ISSN: 1346-4523; 1613-2254
• DOI: 10.1007/s10396-019-01002-9

Purpose
Patients suffering from lateral epicondylitis exhibit diminished mobility due to pain. The aim of the study was to compare the efficacy of both shockwave and ultrasound therapies in patients with lateral epicondylitis.
Methods
The shockwave group consisted of 117 patients, 63 patients constituted the ultrasound group, and 18 patients made up the control group. The “University of Peloponnese Pain, Functionality and Quality of Life Questionnaire” was used for the evaluation of pain, functionality, and quality of life on a five-point Likert scale, pre-treatment, post-treatment, and at 4-week follow-up.
Results
The pain was reduced and the functionality and quality of life were improved in both the shockwave and ultrasound groups post-treatment (
p
 < 0.001) and at 4-week follow-up (
p
 < 0.001), but the results in the ultrasound group were not as pronounced as in the shockwave group (
p
 < 0.001).
Conclusion
Both radial shockwave and ultrasound therapies were significantly effective in patients with lateral epicondylitis. However, ultrasound therapy was less effective than shockwave therapy.