A randomized controlled trial of extracorporeal shock wave therapy for lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow)
Two articles on PainSci cite Staples 2008: 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.
OBJECTIVE: The aims of this double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial were to determine whether ultrasound-guided extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) reduced pain and improved function in patients with lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow) in the short term and intermediate term.
METHODS: Sixty-eight patients from community-based referring doctors were randomized to receive 3 ESWT treatments or 3 treatments at a subtherapeutic dose given at weekly intervals. Seven outcome measures relating to pain and function were collected at followup evaluations at 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months after completion of the treatment. The mean changes in outcome variables from baseline to 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months were compared for the 2 groups.
RESULTS: The groups did not differ on demographic or clinical characteristics at baseline and there were significant improvements in almost all outcome measures for both groups over the 6-month followup period, but there were no differences between the groups even after adjusting for duration of symptoms.
CONCLUSION: Our study found little evidence to support the use of ESWT for the treatment of lateral epicondylitis and is in keeping with recent systematic reviews of ESWT for lateral epicondylitis that have drawn similar conclusions.
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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- Modulation in the elastic properties of gastrocnemius muscle heads in individuals with plantar fasciitis and its relationship with pain. Zhou 2020 Sci Rep.
- Association Between Plantar Fasciitis and Isolated Gastrocnemius Tightness. Nakale 2018 Foot Ankle Int.
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