Abstract
ObjectiveTo evaluate the efficacy of shockwave therapy versus ultrasound-guided steroid injection in the treatment of chronic supraspinatus tendinopathy.Patients and methodsThis study was carried out on 30 patients with calcific and noncalcific supraspinatus tendinopathy for more than 3 months. A clinical assessment was performed for all patients including pain scoring by the visual analog scale and full shoulder examination at the start of the study and 6 weeks later. Shoulder ultrasound was performed at the start of the study. Fifteen patients received four sessions of radial shockwave therapy (Intelect Radial Shockwave, UK) 3 bar pressure, 2000 pulses, 20Hz. Fifteen patients received a single ultrasound-guided subacromial steroid injection (1ml triamcinolone 40mg and 1ml lidocaine).ResultsBoth groups showed a statistically significant improvement in pain relief (visual analog scale) and clinical examination: tenderness, shoulder range of motion, and muscle power. There was no statistically significant difference between both groups.ConclusionRadial shockwave therapy has no additional benefit over ultrasound-guided steroid injection in the short term in patients with chronic supraspinatus tendinopathy.
Highlights
Supraspinatus tendinopathy is the most commonly diagnosed condition that caused shoulder pain
This study included 30 patients diagnosed with supraspinatus tendinopathy
They were divided into two groups: group I received a single subacromial ultrasound-guided steroid injection and group II received radial shockwave therapy
Summary
Supraspinatus tendinopathy is the most commonly diagnosed condition that caused shoulder pain. The supraspinatus tendon is the most affected tendon (80%), followed by the infraspinatus tendon (15%) and the subscapularis tendon (5%) [1]. Chronic supraspinatus tendinopathy is a common disabling condition [2]. Chronic supraspinatus tendinopathy is more prevalent between the third and the fifth decades, and more common in women [3]. Many theories have been proposed suggesting that supraspinatus tendinopathy has a multifactorial etiology as a result of extrinsic factors leading to narrowing of the subacromial space with compression of the bursal side of the tendons as anatomic variants of the acromion, subacromial spurring or osteophytes, and intrinsic factors, mainly avascularity [5]. The intrinsic factors are the primary cause [6]
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