Effects of extracorporeal shockwave therapy versus ultrasonic therapy and deep friction massage in the management of lateral epicondylitis: a randomized clinical trial

The study's goal was to compare and evaluate the benefits of deep friction massage and ultrasonic therapy (US) vs extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) for people with lateral epicondylitis. This double-blind, parallel-arm randomized clinical trial was conducted after ethical approval on a sample of 80 subjects with lateral epicondylitis. Participants were enrolled based on predefined eligibility criteria. They were randomly allocated to groups A and B. Group A received ESWT, while Group B received the US combined with deep friction massage. Data was collected using the Numeric Pain Rating Score (NPRS) and Patient-rated tennis elbow evaluation questionnaire (PRTEE) at baseline, at 3rd, and at 7th week of treatment. On the basis of the normality of the data, a non-parametric test was applied to evaluate between-group and within-group differences. P value ≤ 0.05 was considered significant. There was a significant difference between groups (p