Iontophoresis for Treatment of Shinsplints

Abstract

It was hypothesized that shinsplints are the result of muscle inflammation induced by overuse; thus, as an inflammatory response, the application of an antiinflammatory medication to the involved muscles would eliminate the pain of shinsplints. The application of hydrocortisone by iontophoresis was effective in the elimination of shinsplint pain in 18 cases of shinsplints involving four male and eight female athletes. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 1982;3(4):183-185.

Low Regional Tibial Bone Density in Athletes with Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome Normalizes after Recovery from Symptoms

“…Although medial tibial stress syndrome is a well known clinical entity, 1–4,7–13,18,21–24,26,27 to our knowledge in only one study did the authors report that bone mineral density is reduced in the affected skeletal region. 19 The deficit in the tibial region was unexpected, given the subjects’ level of exercise and the fact that in most other skeletal regions their bone mineral density was higher than that of nonathlete control subjects.…”

Iontophoresis: An overview of the mechanisms and clinical application

“…In 1982, Kahn [48] reported a successful case study on the treatment of gouty arthritis with lithium iontophoresis. Also, Delacerda [10,49], Harris [8], and Ber-tolucci [9] demonstrated favorable results using DEX and LID iontophoresis for various inflammatory conditions. However, their results were rendered questionable by some methodological problems.…”

“…Bertolucci 191 0 Infraspinatis (7) 0 Supraspinatis (5) Adhesive capsulitis (10) Bicepital tendonitis (9) 0 Lateral epicondylitis ( (23) Lateral epicondylitis (26) 0 Subacromial bursitis (5) 0 Bicepital tendonitis (9) 0 Anterior talofibular ligament strain (2) Patellar tendonitis (3) 0 Gouty arthritis (1) 0 Shinsplint (12 subjects, 18 shinsplint cases)…”

“…Iontophoretic treatments have been used in the management of a variety of clinical conditions. Claims of therapeutic success have been made for inflammatory disorders of the temporomandibular joint [41], local anaesthesia delivery [42,43], otitis media [44], orthopedic infection [23], port-wine stains [7], shinsplints [10,45], and RA [15,46]. Despite considerable clinical experience in using this technique, many doubts remain as to the efficacy of iontophoresis for the treatment of inflammatory musculoskeletal conditions.…”

“…First, all the studies included a small sample size, which affected their statistical power. Second, some of the studies did not monitor the use of additional anti-inflammatory medications by the subjects [8,10,48]. The observed effects might have been contaminated by the additional treatments.…”