Wearable long duration ultrasound therapy in rotator cuff tendinopathy

Approximately one-third of the westernized adult population will experience some type of shoulder pain. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate a novel self-applied wearable therapeutic ultrasound device in the management of shoulder pain from rotator cuff tendinopathy. The Institutional Review Board of Cayuga Medical Center (CMC) approved this study and informed consent for the study was obtained from all subjects. The wearable ultrasound device provides 90 mW/cm2, 2.95 MHz, continuous-wave ultrasound for 5.5 h on a single charge. Four subjects meeting the studies inclusion criteria, presenting with rotator cuff tendinopathy, and demonstrating cognitive and functional ability to apply the pager-size device were enrolled at the outpatient physical therapy center of CMC. Subjects were instructed to wear the device for 3–4 h/day for 12 consecutive treatment sessions, and record their daily pain score on the visual analog scale (1 to 10) and global rate of health improvement scale (−7 to 7). Across the 12 treatments, subjects reported a 30% reduction in pain and 52% improvement in health compared to baseline scores (p < 0.05). The results of the pilot study indicate the device may be applied successfully and provides supportive evidence for a placebo controlled study.