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

  • Original Article–Orthopedics
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Abstract

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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Physiology-Pharmacology, Department of Nursing, Faculty of Human Movement and Quality of Life Sciences, University of Peloponnese, Efstathiou and Stamatikis Valioti and Plateon, 23 100, Sparta, Greece

    Vasileios Dedes, Konstantinos Tzirogiannis & Georgios I. Panoutsopoulos

  2. Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health and Caring Professions, University of West Attica, Athens, Greece

    Maria Polikandrioti

  3. Engineering in Biotechnology Department, Absalon University College, Kalundborg, Sjelland, Denmark

    Ariadni Maria Dede

  4. Orthopaedic Department, Messinion Therapeutirion, Kalamata, Greece

    Athanasios Mitseas

Authors
  1. Vasileios Dedes
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  2. Konstantinos Tzirogiannis
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  3. Maria Polikandrioti
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  4. Ariadni Maria Dede
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  5. Athanasios Mitseas
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  6. Georgios I. Panoutsopoulos
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Georgios I. Panoutsopoulos.

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Conflict of interest

Vasileios Dedes, Konstantinos Tzirogiannis, Maria Polikandrioti, Ariadni Maria Dede, Athanasios Mitseas, and Georgios I. Panoutsopoulos declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical statements

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1964 and later versions.

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Cite this article

Dedes, V., Tzirogiannis, K., Polikandrioti, M. et al. Comparison of radial extracorporeal shockwave therapy with ultrasound therapy in patients with lateral epicondylitis. J Med Ultrasonics 47, 319–325 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10396-019-01002-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10396-019-01002-9

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