Table 5.
Subgroup analyses related to determining the effect of ESWT on mean pain in patients with Lateral Epicondylitis (Tennis Elbow)
| Outcomes | Variables for subgroups | No. of effect size | Pooled standardized mean difference (SMD) (% 95 CI) | Heterogeneity assessment (within groups) | Heterogeneity assessment (within groups) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I square | Q test | P value | Q test | P value | ||||
| LE | Age | |||||||
| ≤ 45 | 14 | 0.04 (-0.96, 1.03) | 79.80% | 44.75 | 0.0001 | |||
| > 45 | 41 | -0.86 (-1.41, -0.31) | 79.01% | 38.22 | 0.0001 | 2.47 | 0.120 | |
| BMI | ||||||||
| ≤ 27 | 21 | -0.72 (-1.32, -0.12) | 59.90% | 47.68 | 0.0001 | |||
| > 27 | 14 | -1.12 (-1.69, -0.54) | 68.37% | 22.47 | 0.0001 | 2.47 | 0.250 | |
| Type of LE | ||||||||
| Chronic | 12 | -1.02 (-2.22, -0.18) | 89.72% | 59.84 | 0.0001 | |||
| Non- chronic | 43 | -0.54 (-1.02, -0.05) | 55.55% | 24.53 | 0.0001 | 0.54 | 0.460 | |
| Sessions | ||||||||
| < 5 weeks | 49 | -0.76 (-1.39, -0.14) | 79.97% | 66.81 | 0.0001 | |||
| ≥ 5 weeks | 6 | -1.12 (-4.16, -0.02) | 86.99% | 87.32 | 0.0001 | 0.16 | 0.001 | |
| HZ | ||||||||
| < 15 | 45 | -1.38 (-2.06, -0.70) | 41.49% | 16.09 | 0.097 | |||
| ≥ 15 | 9 | 1.35 (-0.36, 3.07) | 68.49% | 69.91 | 0.0001 | 8.45 | 0.0001 | |
| Plus | ||||||||
| ≤ 2000 | 52 | -0.49 (-1.19, -0.04) | 67.89% | 49.49 | 0.0001 | |||
| < 2000 | 3 | -3.54 (-5.54, -1.55) | 79.59% | 57.28 | 0.0001 | 8.02 | 0.0001 | |
| Follow up | ||||||||
| < 5 weeks | 22 | -0.45 (-1.58, -0.04) | 98.65% | 88.99 | 0.001 | |||
| 5–10 weeks | 11 | -1.60 (-3.26, -0.05) | 78.36% | 56.11 | 0.001 | 1.86 | 0.600 | |
| 10–15 weeks | 15 | -0.36 (-1.06, -0.24) | 96.07% | 57.21 | 0.001 | |||
| 15–20 weeks | 0 | - | - | - | - | |||
| > 20 | 7 | -1.87 (-3.61, -0.23) | 69.56% | 73.43 | 0.001 | |||
| Type of ESWT | ||||||||
| Radial | 13 | -0.49 (-1.27, -0.09) | 88.99% | 50.31 | 0.001 | |||
| Focused | 7 | -1.48 (-3.10, -0.14) | 87.03% | 49.04 | 0.001 | 1.21 | 0.550 | |
| Not determined | 35 | -0.55 (-1.57, 0.44) | 91.34% | 38.9 | 0.001 | |||
| Type of comparisons | ||||||||
| CSI | 2 | -1.19 (-3.55, -0.38) | 77.12% | 23.67 | 0.001 | |||
| Exercise | 5 | -0.34 (-1.03, -0.03) | 0.00% | 1.22 | 0.56 | 6.20 | 0.403 | |
| KT | 6 | 0.57 (-2.19, 3.33) | 89.04% | 73.4 | 0.001 | |||
| PBMT | 4 | 0.05 (-0.40, 0.50) | 56.39% | 6.88 | 0.083 | |||
| Placebo | 25 | -0.77 (-1.78, -0.25) | 63.29% | 13.79 | 0.001 | |||
| US | 10 | -1.94 (-4.24, -0.36) | 88.79% | 40.67 | 0.001 | |||
| WES | 3 | -0.21 (-0.49, -0.06) | 0.00% | 1.15 | 0.566 | |||
CSI: corticosteroids injections, FoSW: Focused ESWT, RaSW: Radial ESWT, ESWT: Extracorporeal shock wave therapy, Autologous conditioned plasma: ACP; Platelet-rich plasma: PRP, LE: Lateral epicondylitis, Cryo-US: Cry- ultrasound, WES: Wrist extensor splint; Photo-biomodulation therapy (PBMT); RCT: Randomized controlled trials; CI: Confidence interval