OBJECTIVE: To evaluate and compare the effects and outcomes of extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) and intra-articular injections of hyaluronic acid (HA) in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). METHODS: Of the 78 patients recruited for the study, 61 patients met the inclusion criteria. The enrolled patients were randomly divided into two groups: the ESWT group and the HA group. The ESWT group underwent 3 sessions of 1,000 shockwave pulses performed on the affected knee with the dosage adjusted to 0.05 mJ/mm² energy. The HA group was administered intra-articular HA once a week for 3 weeks with a 1-week interval between each treatment. The results were measured with the visual analogue scale (VAS), Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), Lequesne index, 40-m fast-paced walk test, and stair-climb test (SCT). A baseline for each test was measured before treatment and then the effects of the treatments were measured by each test at 1 and 3 months after treatment. RESULTS: In both groups, the scores of the VAS, WOMAC, Lequesne index, 40-m fast-paced walk test, and SCT were significantly improved in a time-dependent manner (p<0.01). There were no statistically significant differences measured at 1 and 3 months after treatment between the two groups (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: The ESWT can be an alternative treatment to reduce pain and improve physical functions in patients with knee OA.
High-Energy Shock Waves ; Humans ; Hyaluronic Acid* ; Injections, Intra-Articular* ; Knee* ; Ontario ; Osteoarthritis ; Osteoarthritis, Knee* ; Shock

Two patients with stage three secondary lymphedema of the upper extremities underwent treatment for breast cancer, including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. They were examined with computed tomography (CT) before and after extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT). We used a manual tracing method using PiViewSTAR software to calculate the volume of the upper extremities. There was a decrease in the volume of the subcutaneous compartment measured by CT before and after ESWT. CT may be helpful in determining the treatment target area of ESWT and to monitor the effect of treatment by measuring the changes in volume before and after ESWT in patients with lymphedema. Therefore, CT may have good clinical potential for treatment and follow-up in the management of lymphedema.
Breast Neoplasms ; Drug Therapy ; High-Energy Shock Waves ; Humans ; Lymphedema* ; Radiotherapy ; Shock* ; Subcutaneous Tissue ; Upper Extremity

This article describes in detail the classification of extracorporeal shock wave lithotriptors, charging and discharging circuit of shock wave, wave source and the locating system of the lithotriptor, makes a comparison between three kinds of conventional shock wave sources, and analyzes the advantages and shortcomings of the different locating systems.
Equipment Design ; High-Energy Shock Waves ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Lithotripsy ; classification ; instrumentation ; methods

OBJECTIVE: To compare the effect of extracorporeal shock-wave therapy (ESWT) applied at the muscle belly and myotendinous junction on spasticity in the upper and lower limbs of chronic stroke patients. METHODS: Of the 151 patients, a total of 80 patients with stroke-induced spasticity on the elbow flexor and 44 patients on the knee flexor were enrolled for a prospective, randomized clinical trial. The patients were divided into control, muscle belly, and myotendinous junction groups, and a total of three ESWT sessions (0.068–0.093 mJ/mm², 1,500 shots) were conducted at one per week. A Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) and Modified Tardieu Scale (MTS) were collected at the baseline and at 1 week after each session. RESULTS: After interventions, the MAS and MTS of both the belly and the junction groups showed positive effects from the ESWT on spasticity in the elbow and knee flexors, but the control group did not. The results also tended to improve after each session until the entire intervention was completed. However, there was no significant difference between the belly and junction groups. CONCLUSION: ESWT could be effective for treating chronic spasticity after stroke when applied to muscle belly or myotendinous junction.
Elbow ; High-Energy Shock Waves ; Humans ; Knee ; Lower Extremity ; Muscle Spasticity* ; Prospective Studies ; Stroke*

The basic mechanical properties of a Radial Shock Wave Therapy Equipment (RSWTE) were experimentally studied in this paper. The output energy of the RSWTE working on the operation frequency of 10 Hz was measured by dynamic pressure transducer under the conditions of different operation pressure. The results showed that both operation pressure and operation frequency have effects on the output energy of the equipment. The output energy increases with the increase of operation pressure, and the magnitude of increased energy decreases with higher operation of frequency. With the increase of operation frequency, the output energy rises up in condition of lower operation pressure and drops off in condition of higher operation pressure. The accurate medical treatment should be selected with the optimized energy and condition according to the treatment requirement to different illness in clinical medical applications.
Equipment Design ; High-Energy Shock Waves ; Physical Therapy Modalities ; instrumentation ; Pressure

In medical field, extrinsic shock wave is only used to crush kidney stone to pieces. In recent years, a new instrument has been produced, which outputs a more gentle extrinsic shock wave that also can be used for treatment of pain excitation region in the muscular system. This shock wave is called rectilinear ballistic extrinsic shock wave. In 2002, the author designed an instrument, which could generate the rectilinear ballistic extrinsic shock wave and was used at acupoints. The author used the instrument for treatment of over 500 patients and proved that the method had a better effect than that of simple acupuncture and moxibustion for many kinds of diseases. Extrinsic shock wave acupuncture and moxibustion is another method for stimulating acupoints, besides acupuncture, moxihustion, massage of acupoints, electroacupuncture and laser acupuncture.
Acupuncture Therapy ; methods ; High-Energy Shock Waves ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Moxibustion ; methods

Explosive blast injury has become the most prevalent injury in recent military conflicts and terrorist attacks. The magnitude of this kind of polytrauma is complex due to the basic physics of blast and the surrounding environments. Therefore, development of stable, reproducible and controllable animal model using an ideal blast simulation device is the key of blast injury research. The present review addresses the modeling of blast injury and applications of shock tubes.
Animals ; Blast Injuries ; etiology ; Disease Models, Animal ; High-Energy Shock Waves ; Research

Penile vascular endothelial damage, vasomotor dysfunction, and blood flow deficiency are the major causes of erectile dysfunction (ED). Current management of ED mostly depends on selective phosphodiesterase type 5- (PDE5) inhibitors, which fail for some ED patients. For Peyronie's disease-induced ED, surgical and physical therapies are used in addition to PDE5I medication, but frequently it is difficult to achieve satisfactory results. Recent studies show that the low-intensity extracorporeal shockwave therapy can promote angiogenesis and improve blood flow to the penis, which promises to be a novel effective therapy for ED and Peyronie's disease.
Erectile Dysfunction ; therapy ; High-Energy Shock Waves ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Male ; Penile Induration ; therapy

Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) is a common disease in males, which is characterized by persistent discomfort or pain in the pelvic region. As currently used drug therapies fail to produce satisfactory results, it is an urgent task to find new and effective methods for the treatment of CP/CPPS. In recent years, many reports are seen on the extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) for CP/CPPS. ESWT can significantly improve the symptoms of pelvic pain and urination disorders in CPPS patients, and its therapeutic effect is attributed to the improvement of angiogenesis and block of pain nerves.
Chronic Pain ; therapy ; High-Energy Shock Waves ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Male ; Pelvic Pain ; therapy ; Prostatitis ; therapy

Erectile Dysfunction/therapy* ; Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy ; High-Energy Shock Waves ; Humans ; Male ; Singapore