Evaluating the efficacy of extracorporeal shockwave therapy in postoperative rehabilitation after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: A meta-analysis

Table 1 Descriptive characteristics of the included studies

Ref.	Study design	Gender	Population	Intervention	Comparison	Outcome	Follow-up
Li et al[4] 2022	RCT	Male	ACLR	Radial ESWT following exercise training	Exercise training	Function and stability of knee joint	6 months
Wang et al[8] 2014	RCT	Male and female	Primary ACLR	Focused ESWT in a single session with 1500 impulses	No ESWT	IKDC, KT-1000, Lysholm, autograft ratios	2 years
Rahim et al[6] 2022	NRCS	Male	ACLR with single autograft hamstring reconstruction	Focused ESWT at 7 weeks, 8 weeks, and9 weeks postoperation and for 6 weeks in another group 7-12 weeks with 500 shocks	Physiotherapy	Lysholm, graft incorporation	3 weeks, 6 weeks
Song et al[7] 2024	RCT	Male and female	ACLR	Radial ESWT at the second postoperative day with 2500 impulses for 6 weeks	Sham ESWT + standard rehabilitation	Lysholm, ROM, IKDC, VAS	3 weeks, 6 weeks, 24 weeks
Weninger et al[14] 2023	RCT	Male and female	ACLR	Focused ESWT at 4 weeks, 5 weeks, and 6 weeks with 1500 impulses	No ESWT	VAS, Lysholm, IKDC, return to activity, tunnel liquid effusion	3 months, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months
Zhang et al[15] 2022	RCT	Male	ACLR	Radial ESWT for 5 weeks and 3 months postoperatively with 2000 impulses	Standard treatment	IKDC, Lysholm, Tegner, KT-1000, ACL graft signal/noise quotient	3 months, 6 months, 24 months

RCT: Randomized clinical trial; NRCS: Non-randomized clinical study; ACLR: Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction; ESWT: Extracorporeal shock wave therapy; IKDC: International knee documentation committee; VAS: Visual analog score; ROM: Range of motion.