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Abstracts
9. Low Energy Extracorporeal Shock Therapy as a Treatment for Chronic Patellar Tendinopathy
John Patrick Furia(1), Jan Dirk Rompe(2), Angelo Cacchio(3), Nicola Maffulli(4)
Institution:
1 SUN Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, Lewisburg, PA, USA
2 OrthoTrauma Evaluation Center, Mainz, Germany
3 Dept. of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Italy
4 Centre for Sports and Exercise Medicine, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry,
Queen Mary University of London, London, Great Britain
Device and producing company: DolorClast, EMS
Introduction: The pathologic changes seen in chronic patellar tendinopathy are similar to those of other overuse injuries of
tendons. Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy (SWT) is an effective treatment for many tendinopathic conditions.
Methods: Thirty-three patients with chronic patellar tendinopathy received low-energy SWT (2000 shocks; 4 bars of
pressure, total energy flux density, 360 mJ/mm2). Thirty-three patients with chronic patellar tendinopathy were treated with
additional forms of non-operative therapy (control group). Evaluation was by change in visual analog score (VAS), Victoria
Institute Sport Assessment Score (VISA), and by Roles and Maudsley (RM) score.
Results: Mean pre-treatment VAS scores for the control and SWT groups were 7.5 and 7.8, respectively. One month, 3
months, and 12 months after treatment, mean VAS for control and SWT groups were 6.7 and 4.3 (pp001), and 54.9 and
74.5 (p the number of excellent, good, fair, and poor results for SWT and control groups were 8 and 3 (psis showed that
the percentage of patients with excellent (“1”) or good (“2”) RM scores (successful results) 12 months after treatment was
greater in the SWT group compared to the control group.
Discussion: Traditional treatment of chronic patellar tendinopathy is generally lengthy, associated with frequent recurrences,
and in many cases, results in an unacceptable degree of improvement. This study demonstrates that low energy, radial
SWT is safe and effective, that it can be used to treat patients with chronic patellar tendinopathy, and that satisfactory
improvement is maintained for at least one year.
Conclusion: SWT is an effective treatment for chronic patellar tendinopathy.
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