NCT00905736

Brief Summary

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.

Trial Health

87
On Track

Trial Health Score

Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach

Enrollment
24

participants targeted

Target at below P25 for phase_2

Timeline
Completed

Started Apr 2009

Shorter than P25 for phase_2

Geographic Reach
1 country

1 active site

Status
completed

Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.

Trial Relationships

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Study Timeline

Key milestones and dates

Study Start

First participant enrolled

April 1, 2009

Completed
2 months until next milestone

First Submitted

Initial submission to the registry

May 20, 2009

Completed
1 day until next milestone

First Posted

Study publicly available on registry

May 21, 2009

Completed
6 months until next milestone

Primary Completion

Last participant's last visit for primary outcome

December 1, 2009

Completed
Same day until next milestone

Study Completion

Last participant's last visit for all outcomes

December 1, 2009

Completed
Last Updated

June 22, 2010

Status Verified

August 1, 2009

Enrollment Period

8 months

First QC Date

May 20, 2009

Last Update Submit

June 18, 2010

Conditions

Keywords

tendonhealingmicrocurrentchronic tennis elbow

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

  • Tissue healing as indicated by sonography

    baseline, 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 4 months

Secondary Outcomes (4)

  • Patient rating global change

    baseline, 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 4 months

  • Pain free grip strength

    baseline, 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 4 months

  • Patient rated tennis elbow questionnaire

    baseline, 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 4 months

  • Adverse events

    3 weeks, 6 weeks, 4 months

Study Arms (2)

current controlled

EXPERIMENTAL

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

Procedure: Microcurrent treatment (controlled current)

voltage controlled

EXPERIMENTAL

constant voltage amplitude delivering high frequency AC waveform

Procedure: Micocurrent treatment (controlled voltage)

Interventions

primarily monophasic waveform of average amplitude 40 microamps, 1 hr daily for 3 weeks

current controlled

Microcurrent delivered for 6 hours daily for 3 weeks

voltage controlled

Eligibility Criteria

Age18 Years+
Sexall
Healthy VolunteersNo
Age GroupsAdult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

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

You may not qualify if:

  • 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

Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.

Sponsors & Collaborators

Study Sites (1)

University of Hertfordshire

Hatfield, Hertfordshire, AL10 9AB, United Kingdom

Location

Related Links

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Tennis Elbow

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Elbow TendinopathyTendinopathyMuscular DiseasesMusculoskeletal DiseasesElbow InjuriesArm InjuriesWounds and InjuriesTendon Injuries

Study Design

Study Type
interventional
Phase
phase 2
Allocation
NON RANDOMIZED
Masking
NONE
Purpose
TREATMENT
Intervention Model
PARALLEL
Sponsor Type
OTHER

Study Record Dates

First Submitted

May 20, 2009

First Posted

May 21, 2009

Study Start

April 1, 2009

Primary Completion

December 1, 2009

Study Completion

December 1, 2009

Last Updated

June 22, 2010

Record last verified: 2009-08

Locations