LATERAL EPICONDYLITIS – APPROACHES AND TREATMENT INTERVENTIONS Lateral epicondylitis (LE) is a common musculoskeletal condition with clinical symptoms of pain and inflammation over the proximal attachment of the wrist extensor tendon and lateral epicondyle of the humerus. It is frequently known as “tennis elbow” and maximum incidences occur between 30 and 65 years of age. 14 Other symptoms may include stiffness or weakness in the elbow and difficulties in functional activities of the hand. 15 It is caused by a direct injury or repeated stress or motion of the soft tissues surrounding the elbow joint. Over time, this repeated stress and overloading can cause a degenerative condition known as tendinosis. Together, tendinitis and tendinosis further lead to the tendon tearing. Several approaches have been used for the treatment of LE, such as physical therapy (including rest and movement restriction, activity modification, hot−cold application, electrotherapy, massage, and ultrasound), splinting, local injections (corticosteroids and platelet-rich plasma), oral or topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and surgery. 16,17 Treatments are mainly aimed at reducing pain, controlling inflammation, accelerating healing, and ensuring that the patient can perform activities of daily life. Shockwave Therapy for Lateral epicondylitis To determine the efficacy of ESWT for LE, Yao et al (2020) carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis of a total of 13 articles with 1035 patients to compare the effectiveness of ESWT with other techniques in the treatment of LE. They concluded: Based on the existing clinical evidence, extracorporeal shock wave therapy can effectively relieve the pain and functional impairment (loss of grip strength) caused by tennis elbow, with better overall safety than several other methods” 18 Nambi et al (2022) compared the effects of corticosteroid injection and extracorporeal shockwave therapy on radiological changes in chronic lateral epicondylitis and concluded
Extracorporeal shockwave therapy has added effects on corticosteroid injection for improving pain, percentage of injury, functional disability, handgrip strength, patient perception, kinesiophobia, depression status and quality of life in people with chronic lateral epicondylitis .19
Nambi et al 2022: Significant and long-term (up to 6 months) improvement of pain and function with Radial Shockwave Therapy
Further your education: How to get the best results with Shockwave for Lateral Epicondylitis with Cliff Eaton MSc MCSP
•
Shockwave therapy – does it work for lateral epicondylitis?
•
What other interventions do we have available?
•
Would a combination of interventions provide the best clinical outcomes?
www.chattanoogarehab.com/webinars
17
Made with FlippingBook - PDF hosting