Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare (Jun 2023)
Extracorporeal Shock Wave Combined with Warm Acupuncture for External Humeral Epicondylitis: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Abstract
Jingjun Xie,1 Jinxia Li,2 Qi Sun1 1Department of Acupuncture, The First People’s Hospital of Huzhou, Zhejiang, 313000, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Acupuncture, Huzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Affiliated to Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Zhejiang, 313000, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Jinxia Li, Email [email protected]: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy of extracorporeal shock wave combined with warm acupuncture for external humeral epicondylitis.Methods: Eighty-two patients with external humeral epicondylitis were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group. Patients in the control group were treated with extracorporeal shock waves while those in observation group with warm acupuncture on the basis of the control group. Patients in both groups were evaluated by Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Mayo Elbow Performance Score (MEPS), Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand questionnaire (DASH) before and after treatment. The inflammatory factors such as IL-6, IL-10, TNF-ɑ and clinical outcomes were contrasted before and after treatment.Results: There were statistically significant differences in VAS score, MEPS score and DASH score between the two groups before and after treatment (P< 0.05), and the improvement of each score in the observation group was more obvious than that in the control group. After treatment, the inflammatory factors of the two groups were lower than those before treatment, and the difference was statistically significant (P< 0.05). The decrease of inflammatory factors in the observation group was more obvious than that in the control group. The total effective rate of the observation group was higher than that of the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (P< 0.05).Conclusion: Extracorporeal shock wave combined with warm acupuncture could effectively improve the pain symptoms and dysfunction of external humeral epicondylitis and reduce the expression of inflammatory factors, and its effect may be better than that of extracorporeal shock wave treatment alone.Clinical Trial Registration: ChiCTR2200066075.Keywords: extracorporeal shock wave, warm acupuncture, external humeral epicondylitis, a randomized clinical trial
