Influence of Microcurrent Parameters on Effectiveness in Treatment of Chronic Tennis Elbow

University of Hertfordshire

Status and phase: Completed; Phase 3; Phase 2

Conditions: Tennis Elbow

Treatments: Procedure: Micocurrent treatment (controlled voltage); Procedure: Microcurrent treatment (controlled current)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT00905736

HEPEC/03/09/74

Details and patient eligibility

About

Tennis elbow is a relatively common musculoskeletal disorder that can cause significant pain and disability. Treatment of the disorder is not always successful, and it often recurs or becomes chronic. More effective management options are required. There is evidence that electric microcurrent can promote tissue healing and symptom resolution in various chronic hard and soft tissue disorders, but few human studies have investigated its use with chronic tendon problems. It is an easily applied therapy with very few reports of side effects. It can be applied at home using a portable unit and, if it is clinically effective, may also prove more cost effective than other therapies.

A clinical trial is planned to evaluate the therapy but, in the absence of relevant published evidence, a preliminary study is required to look for a treatment effect and inform a power calculation for sample size, The study is comparing the effects of two different forms of microcurrent treatment.

Enrollment: 24 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• symptoms of tennis elbow for at least 3 months
• clinical diagnosis of tennis elbow

Exclusion criteria

• significant symptom improvement in previous month
• receipt of any active treatment for the condition in the previous month
• currently under the care of another health professional for tennis elbow
• current cervical radiculopathy

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Non-Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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24 participants in 2 patient groups

current controlled

Experimental group

Description:

a current controlled microcurent device providing a primarily monophasic waveform of typical amplitude 40 microamps

Treatment:

Procedure: Microcurrent treatment (controlled current)

voltage controlled

Experimental group

Description:

constant voltage amplitude delivering high frequency AC waveform

Treatment:

Procedure: Micocurrent treatment (controlled voltage)