Efficacy of Extracorporeal Shockwave therapy on pain and function in Myofascial Pain Syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effectiveness of ESWT in reducing pain, improving functionality, joint range of motion (ROM), quality of life, fatigue, and health status self-perception in people with MPS.

METHODS: PubMed, the Cochrane Library, CINAHL, the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro), and SPORTDiscus were systematically searched for only randomized clinical trials published up to June 2, 2022. The main outcome variables were pain, as reported on the visual analog scale (VAS) and pressure pain threshold (PPT), and functionality. A quantitative analysis was conducted using the inverse variance method and the random effects model.

RESULTS: Twenty-seven studies were included (n = 595 participants in the ESWT group). The effectiveness of ESWT for relieving pain was superior for the ESWT group compared to the control group on the VAS (MD = -1.7 cm; CI 95%: -2.2 to -1.1) and PPT (MD = 1.1 kg/cm2; CI 95%: 0.4 to 1.7) and functionality (SMD = -0.8; CI 95%: -1.6 to -0.04) with high heterogeneity. However, no differences were found between ESWT and other interventions as dry needling, exercises, infiltrations, and lasers interventions.

CONCLUSION: ESWT is effective in relieving pain and improving functionality in patients with MPS compared to control and ultrasound therapy.