[Use of extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT)in sports orthopedics]

From 11/97 to 10/99 409 patients have been treated with the extracorporal shockwave therapy (ESWT) in the sport orthopaedic ambulance. An ultrasound controlled treatment was applied in the low and middle energy range, using energy densities of 0.09 to 0.36 mJ/mm2. The ESWT came into application as an operation avoiding procedure after exhausting the conventional conservative therapy measures. Among the 409 patients, 65 persons were competitive sportsmen. Besides the established indications for the application of the shock wave therapy, this method also has been applied with specific sport orthopaedic indications like achillodynia, patella-top-syndrome, medial shin-syndrome, morbus Schlatter or tendinosis of the shoulder. The results were collected three months after the application of the ESWT using a standardized questionnaire. The performed examination exhibits that for conservatively treated tendinoses of the competitive sportsmen, similarly good therapy results concerning the application of ESWT can be reached compared with the classical orthopaedic shockwave therapy. Therefore, for the treatment of a tendinosis, a shock wave therapy should always be taken into account to avoid long exercise and competition breaks due to operative interventions.