Treatment of lateral epicondylitis with ESWT: A sham-controlled, double blinded, randomised study

The aim of this study was to investigate the efficiency of extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) in the treatment of lateral epicondylitis (LE) as randomized, prospective, controlled and double blind. 47 patients (35 women, 12 men) with lateral epicondylitis who were admitted to the Akdeniz University Hospital Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation between March 2015 and July 2015 were included in the study. The mean age of patients was 45.94±10.46 years. Patients were randomized into two groups: active ESWT (n=22) and sham ESWT (n=25). Patients were randomly allocated to receive 1 session per week for 3 weeks of either sham or active ESWT. Patients were evaluated before the treatment, and at the end of the first week, first month and third month after the last treatment session with Patient-rated Tennis Elbow Evaluation Questionnaire (PRTEE), Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain assessment and physical examination of lateral epicondyle of the elbow with special clinical tests. At the end of the treatment, significant improvement was observed in ESWT group compared with sham group pretreatment values. At the first week after the therapy significant improvement was observed in sham group but at the first and third month after the therapy no significant difference was found. In comparison of ESWT and sham over 3 months after the treatment, significant improvements were observed in active treatment group in Patient-rated Tennis Elbow Evaluation Questionnaire (PRTEE), Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and physical examination significant benefit was observed in ESWT group. In conclusion, there was a significant decrease in pain and a significant improvement in function following ESWT in our study. Although there was a reduction in pain and improvement in function with sham treatment as well, this difference was not as significant as in active group.