Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 May:51:101889.
doi: 10.1016/j.foot.2021.101889. Epub 2021 Dec 10.

Extracorporeal shock wave treatment in foot and ankle fracture non-unions - A review

Iris H Y Kwok  1 , Edmund Ieong  2 , Mosaab A Aljalahma  2 , Anil Haldar  2 , Matthew Welck  2
Affiliations
Free article
Review

Extracorporeal shock wave treatment in foot and ankle fracture non-unions - A review

Iris H Y Kwok et al. Foot (Edinb). 2022 May.
Free article

Abstract

Background: The authors reviewed the current evidence and conducted a comprehensive review on the use of extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) in the treatment of foot and ankle fracture non-unions.

Methods: Four databases were searched to identify relevant studies in the available literature.

Results: Eight studies were reviewed, demonstrating union rates of 65%-100% and 90-100% at 3- and 6-months following ESWT treatment respectively. No major complications were seen in any of the studies. Minor complications included local soft tissue swelling, petechiae, bruising and pain.

Conclusions: The literature that is currently available is limited to case series of relatively small sample sizes, highlighting the need for a prospective randomised controlled trial to further investigate the efficacy of ESWT in the treatment of foot and ankle fracture non-unions.

Keywords: Ankle; ESWT; Foot; Non-union; Pseudoarthrosis; Shock wave.

PubMed Disclaimer

LinkOut - more resources