SynthesisBMC musculoskeletal disorders2025
Use of extracorporeal shockwave therapy combined with standard rehabilitation following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: a systematic review with meta-analysis.
Synthesis in BMC musculoskeletal disorders, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- ACL rehabilitation after reconstruction: Evidence-based consensus recommendations from the German Knee Society-Part IV.Journal of experimental orthopaedics · 2026Article
- Evaluating the efficacy of extracorporeal shockwave therapy in postoperative rehabilitation after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: A meta-analysis.World journal of orthopedics · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAnterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are one of the most common sports injuries, accounting for approximately 50% of knee-related injuries. Extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT), in the form of the radial (R-SWT) or focused shockwave (F-SWT), has been shown effective in treating various orthopaedic conditions. Recently, studies have investigated whether ESWT combined with standard rehabilitation may improve outcomes following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR). Therefore, this study aimed to determine whether ESWT can improve clinical outcomes following ACLR.
methodsThis study followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). We searched PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science and included studies involving ESWT treatment following ACLR, which consisted of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and cohort studies. Two authors independently extracted the outcome measurements and used a revised Cochrane risk-of-bias tool (RoB 2) for RCTs and the Risk of Bias in Non-randomised Studies of Interventions (ROBINS-I) for a cohort study to assess the risk of bias. A random effects pairwise meta-analysis was used to compare patient-reported outcomes between ESWT and controlled treatments.
resultsFive studies (Level I: 4; Level II: 1) with 242 participants (male: 167; female: 75) were included. Regarding the patient-reported outcomes, the risk of bias for all RCTs was 'high' and 'serious' for a non-randomized study. The meta-analysis demonstrated that the Lysholm scores were significantly higher in ESWT groups than those of controls at 12 months (Weighted mean difference [WMD]: 7.037, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 6.172-7.902, I
conclusionBased on the meta-analyses performed with a few studies, ESWT combined with standard rehabilitation may potentially lead to better patient-reported outcomes. However, these differences may not be clinically significant. Further high-quality studies are needed to confirm our review's findings.
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