Background and Purpose. Iontophoresis transcutaneously delivers anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs for the treatment of musculoskeletal dysfunction. Lidocaine is a local anaesthetic with analgesic but no anti-inflammatory properties. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the clinical use of lidocaine iontophoresis-mediated analgesia in a larger treatment algorithm for five patients with lateral humeral epicondylalgia. Method. The investigation was a case series design of five subjects, aged 52 (±6) years, with epicondylalgia of 12-393 days' duration. At each treatment session, the patients received cryotherapy, cross-fibre massage and passive stretch. Between sessions analgesia was provided by an 80 mA-min low-current, long-duration lidocaine iontophoresis (LI) over a 24-hour period. Patients were treated on an every-other-day basis for a total of three treatment sessions. Clinical improvements were determined by triplicate measurements of dolorimetric force over the affected epicondyle prior to treatment 1 (baseline), prior to sessions 2 and 3, and one week following the last session. Results. Patients demonstrated an increasing tolerance to dolorimetric force application prior to the next session. The force values prior to session 2 (3.1 (±1.1) Newton (N)) and one week following the third session (3.4 (±0.5) N) were significantly improved from the baseline values (2.1 (±0.9) N). Conclusions. Pain associated with lateral epicondylalgia decreased, and function improved in all patients at the final measurement. One patient returned during the 90-day follow-up period to seek additional medical attention. This investigation documents the potential for analgesia provided by LI in the rehabilitation process of musculoskeletal dysfunction. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. (Source: Physiotherapy Research International)
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Physiotherapy Research International