The effectiveness of extracorporeal shockwave treatment in subacromial impingement syndrome and its relation with acromion morphology

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the extracorporeal shock wave therapy in the subacromial impingement syndrome and its relationship with the acromion morphology. Methods: Thirty patients (24 women, 6 men) with subacromial impingement were evaluated. The average age of patients was 53.6 +/- 9.8 years (range 39-80). Patients were divided into 3 groups according to the acromion morphology. ESWT 1500 at 0.12 am mL/mm(2) violence was applied once a week for 3 weeks. Shoulder pain and disability index (SPADI) was used to assess function and pain scores of the patients. The evaluations were made prior to and 12 weeks after the ESWT. Results: Thirteen shoulders had type 1 acromion, 11 shoulders type 2 acromion and 6 shoulders type 3 acromion. After ESWT, the SPADI pain score decreased from 16.1 +/- 5.1 (7-25) to 10.4 +/- 4.9 (1-20); SPADI functional score decreased from 37.3 +/- 19.8 (5-70) to 26.7 +/- 17.5 (1-60); SPADI total score decreased from 53.4 +/- 24.5 (14-95) to 37.1 +/- 21.6 (2-74) (p < 0.05; paired t test). In each group better functional outcomes were achieved after ESWT (p < 0.05; paired t test). There were no differences between the groups according to functional outcome both before and after the ESWT treatment (p > 0.05, one way ANOVA test). Conclusion: ESWT was found to be effective in the treatment of impingement syndrome both for pain and functional outcome in the early period regardless of acromion morphology. (c) 2017 Turkish Association of Orthopaedics and Traumatology. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V.