6. Discussion
shock, calcification, pain
CALCAR CALCANEI, SIDE EFFECTS, SHOCK
The most prominent symptom of calcar calcanei is pain. In our study, none of the patients from either of the groups took any analgesics or nonsteroid antirheumatics. Analyzing the results obtained in treating the patients in the experimental and control groups, we received statistically similar data regarding the decrease in pain levels in patients. The application of f-ECWT in the experimental group of patients showed a demonstrable reduction in the calcification size and a decrease in pain. Patients from the control group treated with standard ultrasound therapy experienced a positive effect regarding pain intensity reduction. By analyzing the calcification size in millimeters, in patients of both tested groups, a result was obtained demonstrating the effect of f-ESWT on reducing the calcification. Correlation analyses did not show a connection between the size of calcification and pain, but some factors, such as BMI and the age of patients, moderate the therapeutic effects. The results show that the improvement in calcification size is more significant for the elderly and subjects with a higher BMI. There is no data in the literature on the moderating effect of other factors related to patient characteristics. Side effects of the application of shock wave therapy were not registered. Similarly, there were no registered side effects among the patients in the control group.Many studies confirm that the f-ESWT method is noninvasive, safe, and without severe contraindications for breaking up calcifications [The complete biological mechanism of shock wave therapy has yet to be precisely understood. It is believed that ESWT promotes healing through the process of mechano-transduction, acting as a mechanical stimulus [It is assumed that the application of f-ESWT induced changes at the cellular and molecular level, resulting in a reduction in the calcification size. An objective reduction in calcification size was also statistically proven in this study.