Extracorporeal shock wave therapy in chronic calcific tendonitis of the shoulder--is it effective?
Extracorporeal shock wave therapy has been claimed to be an effective non-invasive treatment for chronic calcific tendonitis of the supraspinatus tendon. However many trials have been criticised for not achieving necessary scientific standards. We report a prospective, single blinded, randomised control trial of 20 patients, which looked into effectiveness of the therapy. Subjectively, 45% of the treated patients were satisfied with the outcome and also had objectively increased their Constant score by 11% at 6 months. The control group experienced no subjective or objective improvement with p value < 0.03. This study confirms that extracorporeal shock wave therapy is effective in treating chronic calcific tendonitis when compared with a placebo group. However in our experience it is not as successful as previously claimed, with half the patients failing to achieve a satisfactory out come and requiring surgical excision. Patients found the procedure painful, which has not been previously alluded to.
Royal Surrey County Hospital, Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom.
Anthony
A
Hearnden
Aravind
A
Desai
Anand
A
Karmegam
Mark
M
Flannery
D002114:Calcinosis / Q000628:therapy*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D019220:High-Energy Shock Waves / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012782:Shoulder; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D052256:Tendinopathy / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*