Rheumatology Advance Access published online on November 22, 2005
Rheumatology, doi:10.1093/rheumatology/kei210
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1 Rheumatology Research Unit, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge University NHS Trust, Cambridge, UK
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Objectives. Pulsed low-intensity ultrasound therapy (LIUS) has been found to be beneficial in accelerating fracture healing and has produced positive results in animal tendon repair. In the light of this we undertook a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of LIUS vs placebo therapy daily for 12 weeks in patients with chronic lateral epicondylitis (LE). Methods. Patients with LE of at least 6 weeks’ duration were recruited from general practice, physiotherapy and rheumatology clinics, and had to have failed at least one first-line treatment including non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and corticosteroid injection. Participants were assigned either active LIUS or placebo. Treatment was self-administered daily for 20 min over a 12-week period. The primary end-point was a 50% improvement from baseline in elbow pain measured at 12 weeks using a patient-completed visual analogue scale. Results. Fifty-five subjects aged 18-80 were recruited over a 9-month period. In the active group 64% (16/25) achieved at least 50% improvement from baseline in elbow pain at 12 weeks compared with 57% (13/23) in the placebo group (difference of 7%; 95% confidence interval -20 to 35%). However, this was not statistically significant ( Conclusion. In this study LIUS was no more effective for a large treatment effect than placebo for recalcitrant LE. This is in keeping with other interventional studies for the condition.
Received August 12, 2005
Accepted October 19, 2005
Original Papers
Pulsed low-intensity ultrasound therapy for chronic lateral epicondylitis: a randomized controlled trial
A. P. D'Vaz 1,
A. J. K. Ostor 1 *,
C. A. Speed 1,
J. R. Jenner 1,
M. Bradley 2,
A. T. Prevost 2,
and
B. L. Hazleman 1
2 Centre for Applied Medical Statistics, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Institute of Public Health, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK
A. J. K. Ostor, E-mail: andrew.ostor{at}addenbrookes.nhs.uk
Abstract 
2 = 0.28, P = 0.60).
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