ArticleEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2016
Extracorporeal Shock Wave Stimulation as Alternative Treatment Modality for Wrist and Fingers Spasticity in Poststroke Patients: A Prospective, Open-Label, Preliminary Clinical Trial.
Article in Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06365476 (Effects of Extracorporeal Shock Wave for Upper Limb Flexor Spasticity in Stroke Patients), which is not on this map. Cited by 13 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Effects of Extracorporeal Shock Wave for Upper Limb Flexor Spasticity in Stroke Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Shock Waves as a Treatment Modality for Spasticity Reduction and Recovery Improvement in Post-Stroke Adults - Current Evidence and Qualitative Systematic Review.Clinical interventions in aging · 2020Pooled it
- Add-On Effects of Chinese Herbal Medicine for Post-Stroke Spasticity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2019Pooled it
- Pragmatic single center longitudinal study assessing radial extracorporeal shock wave therapy for patients with severe mental and physical disabilities.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Effect of Early Radial Shock Wave Treatment on Spasticity in Subacute Stroke Patients: A Pilot Study.BioMed research international · 2022Trial
- Effectiveness of radial extracorporeal shock wave therapy in post-stroke spasticity patients: Evaluation with shear wave elastography.Turkish journal of physical medicine and rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Extracorporeal Shockwave Treatment as Additional Therapy in Patients with Post-Stroke Spasticity of Upper Limb-A Narrative Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- Application of extracorporeal shock wave therapy in nervous system diseases: A review.Frontiers in neurology · 2022Review
- Recent Advances in the Treatment of Spasticity: Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy.Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Review
- The Current State of Knowledge on the Clinical and Methodological Aspects of Extracorporeal Shock Waves Therapy in the Management of Post-Stroke Spasticity-Overview of 20 Years of Experiences.Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Review
- Effects of Radial Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy on Flexor Spasticity of the Upper Limb in Post-stroke Patients: Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.Frontiers in neurology · 2021Article
- Comparative Analysis of the Effect of Low-Frequency Repeated Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Extracorporeal Shock Wave on Improving the Spasm of Flexor after Stroke.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2021Article
- Effectiveness of Shock Wave Therapy as a Treatment for Spasticity: A Systematic Review.Brain sciences · 2020Review
- The Effects of Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy on Spastic Muscle of the Wrist Joint in Stroke Survivors: Evidence From Neuromechanical Analysis.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objective. To evaluate the effectiveness of radial shock waves (rESW) for wrist and fingers flexors spasticity in stroke patients. Methods. Twenty patients with upper limb muscle spasticity were enrolled in the study and treated with a single session of rESW. The spasticity level of the radio carpal (RC) and finger (FF) joints was assessed using Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS). The resting bioelectrical activity of the flexor carpi radialis (FCR) and flexor carpi ulnaris (FCU) was examined using surface electromyography (sEMG). Trophic conditions were measured using infrared thermal (IRT) imaging. All measurements were conducted at baseline (t 0), immediately after rESW (t 1), and 1 (t 2) and 24 (t 3) hours following rESW. Results. Significant reduction in MAS was observed for the RC joint in t 1, as well as for the FF joints in t 1, t 2, and t 3. A significant decrease in sEMG was shown for the FCR muscle in t 1 and t 2, as well as for the FCU muscle in t 1 and t 3. Also, a significant increase in IRT value was observed in t 3 only. Conclusions. A single session of rESW could be an effective alternative treatment for reduction of limb spasticity and could lead to improvement of trophic conditions of the spastic muscles.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.