Extracorporeal shock wave treatment for chronic lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow)
Two articles on PainSci cite Ho 2007: 1. Tennis Elbow Guide 2. Does Ultrasound Therapy Work?
original abstract †Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.
(1) Electrohydraulic, electromagnetic, or piezoelectric devices are used to translate energy into acoustic waves during extracorporeal shock wave treatment (ESWT) for chronic lateral epicondylitis (CLE) of the elbow (elbow tendonitis or tennis elbow). These waves may help to accelerate the healing process via an unknown mechanism. (2) Results from randomized controlled trials have been conflicting. Half of the studies showed statistically significant improvement in pain in the treatment group, and half of the studies had data showing no benefit over placebo for any measured outcomes. (3) Limited evidence shows that ESWT is cheaper than arthroscopic surgery, open surgery, and other conservative therapies, such as steroid infiltrations and physiotherapy, that continue for more than six weeks. (4) The lack of convincing evidence regarding its effectiveness does not support the use of ESWT for CLE.
This page is part of the PainScience BIBLIOGRAPHY, which contains plain language summaries of thousands of scientific papers & others sources. It’s like a highly specialized blog. A few highlights:
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- Photobiomodulation therapy is not better than placebo in patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain: a randomised placebo-controlled trial. Guimarães 2021 Pain.
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