Effectiveness of Radial Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy in Patients With Chronic Low Back Pain

Effectiveness of Radial Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy in Patients With Chronic Low Back Pain - Randomized Controlled Trial

Analysis of the effectiveness of radial shock wave therapy as part of a multimodal pain therapy in the inpatient setting. Different therapy protocols are compared in previously non-operated and in previously operated patients.

Radial shock wave therapy is an approved pain therapy procedure that has been used in various degenerative orthopedic diseases for years. There are a few studies on the subject of chronic back pain. Some studies suggest that this method can be used sensibly. A direct comparison of different therapy protocols has not been carried out so far.

As part of inpatient multimodal pain therapy (including infiltration and physiotherapy) in patients with chronic lumbar back pain with or without degenerative surgery in the area of the lumbar spine radial shock wave therapy after a specific protocol is used. Only inpatients will be admitted to the study. All patients are informed verbally and give their written consent. Comprehensive patient information will be provided before the start of the study, handed out and explained as part of the information discussion. There will be 2 groups ((a) patients with previous degenerative surgery in the area of the lumbar spine, (b) patients without such a pre-operation) examined each with 4 sub-groups depending of the different therapy protocols.

Inclusion Criteria:

• chronic lumbar back pain of min 3 months duration

Exclusion Criteria:

• radicular pain of higher intensity than chronic low back pain (cLBP)
• new neurologic deficits
• anticoagulant therapy
• new trauma to the lumbar spine
• spine bacterial infection
• spine tumor
• pregnancy
• coagulation disorder
• previous infiltration to the lumbar spine within 6 weeks prior to study inclusion
• fibromyalgia