Authors:
R. Akopyan, MD, M. Jeshurun, MD, N. Akopyan
Institution:
The "Reability" Medical Institute, Ramat-Hasharon, Israel
For several years both ESWT and RSWT have proven to be effective in the treatment of a wide range of orthopedic pathologies.
Back pain is one of the most common medical problems in the U.S.A. It affects most people at least once in their lifetime. Nevertheless, there is yet minimal experience regarding back pain treatment with Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy. We currently present our experience in treating this application with ESYv't (Medispec Ltd.'s OrthospecTM) and RSWT (Medispec Ltd.'s Orthopedic LithospecTM).
1 8 patients with back pain were treated in 22 treatment cases" with ESWT, RSWT, or the combination of both treatments.
Out of 18 patients 12 were moles and 6 females, with the average age of 51.2 years (21-84 years).
Spinal pathologies were divided as follows: 11 -Cervical Spine out of which 7 were of cervical spine purely, and 4 - treatments of both cervical and lumbar spine; 11 treatments were of lumbar Spine, out of which - 7 were of lumbar spine purely and 4 - a combination of lumbar and cervical spines treatments.
Out of these 11 Lumbar treatments - 3 patients were treated by ESWT, 4 were treated by RSWT and 4 were treated by a combination of ESWT and RSWT. Out of 11 cervicaL treatments 3 were treated with ESWT, 4 with RSWT and 4 by a combination of ESWT and RSWT. AU treatments were combined with Manual Therapy.
The treatment parameters for ESWT were as follows: Treatment intensity: 4-7, Treatment frequency:
150 shocks/mm.; the total number of shock waves: 1000-5000, and the number of treatment sessions: 3-5.
The average treatment parameters for RSWT were as follows: Maximal treatment intensity, Treatment frequency: 20 Hz, and an average of 3.54 treatment sessions.
All patients have shown remarkable improvement both in pain intensity and in everyday function. Five patients are currently proceeding with treatment in spite of their clinical improvement. One patient with cervical pain who has improved returned with recurrent pain and is currently under treatment, and one patient with Spina Bifido and HLA B27 has returned with back pain at a different location.
No anaesthesia was needed prior to or during treatment and no imaging was required. Treatment was well tolerated, with no adverse events reported.
Thus, Shock wave treatment seems to be both safe and effective in the treatment of back pain.

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