Abstract
Objective
To compare the immediate effects of shockwave therapy using two different tips in patients with chronic non-specific low back pain.
Design
Randomised placebo-controlled study with three intervention groups.
Setting
The patients recruited for this study were sent for physiotherapy treatment at primary care between May and July 2022.
Participants
Eighty-one patients with chronic non-specific low back pain aged 18–80 years with pain for ≥3 months and pain intensity ≥3 were randomly recruited for the study.
Intervention
The patients received a single intervention of radial shockwave therapy with 2000 discharges at 100 mJ energy and 5 Hz frequency using concave or convex tips or placebo treatment.
Main measures
The primary outcome was pain intensity immediately post-intervention. The secondary outcomes were pressure pain threshold, temporal summation of pain, and functional performance. Data were collected at baseline and post-intervention.
Results
The post-intervention pain intensity in the concave tip group is an average of two points lower (95% CI = −3.6, −0.4;
Conclusion
The concave tip shockwave therapy is effective in reducing pain and local hyperalgesia in patients with chronic non-specific low back pain.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
