Effectiveness of Radial Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy on Tennis Elbow

Each participant in the experimental group received rESWT for 3 sessions, consisting of 2000 impulses for each session, and one session per week over 3 weeks (a total of 6000 shock waves were given). The pneumatic pressure was set at the maximum level tolerable for each patient. The frequency of pulses was set at 10 Hz.

Sham shockwave therapy were given by the same physiatrist using the same machine as the experimental group, with the same rESWT protocol (3 sessions, 2000 impulses for each session, one session per week over 3 weeks) and the same frequency (10 Hz) of impulses, but the pneumatic pressure was set at 0.1 bar, with a similar sound to the regular rESWT but without actual energy conduction.

The physical therapy program was performed 3 times a week over the same 3 weeks as rESWT, and consisted of 5 minutes of ultrasound diathermy, 15 minutes of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), and 10 minutes of therapeutic exercise, including wrist common extensor stretching and self-massage.