Extracorporeal shock wave therapy for chronic calcific tendinitis of the shoulder

Excerpt

Radiological evidence of soft-tissue calcification around the shoulder was first described by Painter in 1907 [1]. The incidence of calcification is uncertain. Bosworth reported that the incidence in patients with shoulder pain is up to 50% [2]. The disorder is most common in people between 30 and 60 years of age; the usual site is in the tendon of supraspinatus, but other muscles of the rotator cuff may be involved. Usually, treatment methods comprise physiotherapy, analgesic and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, local X-ray treatment, steroid injections, needling [3] and surgical intervention. Since 1992, extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) has been used in the treatment of pain, in particular of enthesopathy. Excellent results have also been reported by Rompe et al. [4] in the treatment of epicondylitis, and good results have also been obtained by Cosentino et al. in a hemophiliac patient with synovial osteochondromatosis of the ankle [5]. Good results have been reported by many authors in the treatment of calcaneal enthesophytosis [6, 7]. …