Extracorporeal shock wave therapy in chronic calcific tendonitis of the shoulder – Is it effective ?


Published online: Feb 28 2009

Anthony Hearnden, Aravind Desai, Anand Karmegam, Mark Flannery

From the Royal Surrey County Hospital, Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom

Abstract

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.