Background: About sixty percent of all shoulder discomfort cases are caused by supraspinatus tendonitis. Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT), which has been shown to be effective in treating a number of musculoskeletal conditions, including enthesopathies, seems to be a potential alternative. Supraspinatus tendinopathy is treated with a variety of progressive exercises.
Objective: In order to effectively treat chronic supraspinatus tendonitis, this study evaluated the therapeutic effects of SWT, at-home exercises, and their combination.
Patients and Methods: This study was a clinical trial study and was carried out on patients with chronic supraspinatus tendinitis and were randomly divided into three groups according to the line of treatment. Shockwave therapy group included 26 patients. Home exercises program group included 26 patients. Combined shockwave therapy and home exercises program group included 26 patients. Diagnosis of supraspinatus tendinitis was confirmed by diagnostic musculoskeletal ultrasonography.
Results: There were improvement in all groups but combined therapy group was superior to other groups. Shockwave therapy group showed improvement in shoulder pain, tenderness, active abduction and disability but home exercises group had better effects while combined therapy group showed more improvements in all shoulder parameters relative to the baseline and between groups.
Conclusion: Shockwave therapy and home exercises have been proved to be effective for the treatment of chronic supraspinatus tendinitis, improving shoulder pain, tenderness, active abduction and disability. They also reduced the treatment cost. Adding home exercises to shock wave therapy interventions increases the gained improvements in all shoulder parameters relative to the baseline and between groups.