Comparison of shock wave therapy and corticosteroid injection in the treatment of greater trochanteric pain syndrome: A single-blind, randomized study

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of the corticosteroid (CS) injection and shock wave therapy (SWT) in the treatment of greater trochanteric pain syndrome (GTPS). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between 2020 September and 2021 October, a total of 60 patients with GTPS (12 males, 48 females; mean age: 50.8±8.5 years; range, 34 to 65 years) were included. The patients were randomly assigned to two groups as the SWT group (n=32) receiving one session of SWT per week for a total of three weeks and CS injection group (n=28) receiving CS and local anesthetic. Both groups were evaluated using the Short Form-36 (SF-36) at baseline and three months and using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) at baseline, three weeks, and three months. RESULTS: The mean VAS, greater trochanter tenderness, and WOMAC scores of both groups were similar at baseline, while the third-week and three-month scores were significantly lower in both groups compared to baseline (p<0.05). There was no significant difference in the treatment efficacy between the groups (p>0.05). There was a similar improvement in SF-36 physical function, physical role difficulty, and pain subscales in both groups (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Our study results show that both CS injection and SWT are effective modalities and none of the treatments is superior to each other.