Ultrasound has been used for a range of conditions including tennis elbow, wound healing and herpes infections. Its main effect is to generate heat within the tissues. Reviewers provided a descriptive summary of included trials. Randomised, double blind trials Two of three trials showed significant benefit of ultrasound. It was unclear whether this trial was randomised.
Reviewers note that the first trial had methodological weaknesses, and the second was very small.
Reviewers and authors noted that the 4 week outcome would require 1000 patients to show significant benefit of ultrasound. The remaining two trials were of weaker design. At 12 weeks there were significantly more healed ulcers and significantly smaller ulcers in the ultrasound group. However, as well as being of poor methodology, this trial was also very small. This review also summarised findings from three experimental animal studies.