Background: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common entrapment syndrome, primarily affecting women between the ages of 40 and 70, and conservative treatments are the first option for mild-to-moderate CTS. However, the comparisons between extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) and other non-surgical methods in the treatment of mild-to-moderate CTS remain controversial, and an updated systematic review is needed.
Methods: An electronic search was performed, and all available articles until August 2023 were included in the analysis. The overall quality of evidence was assessed by the GRADE approach. Meta-analyses were conducted using Manager V.5.3.3. Pooled effect sizes were expressed as the weighted mean difference (WMD) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).
Results: A total of 19 RCTs were included. Low-level quality evidence showed that ESWT outperformed the control intervention in terms of functional improvements, pain relief, electrodiagnostic parameters, and cross-sectional area of the median nerve at any time point of follow-up. Compared to local corticosteroid injection (LCI), there were statistically better improvements in functional improvements, pain relief, and electrodiagnostic parameters at 3 and 6 months of follow-up.
Conclusions: There is low-level quality evidence to show that both fESWT and rESWT are more clinically effective than controls in symptom relief, functional enhancement, and electrophysiologic parameters' improvement for patients with mild-to-moderate CTS at any time point of follow-up. Compared with LCI, ESWT yielded similar short-term (<1 month) but better medium- (1-6 months) and long-term (>6 months) improvements in pain relief and functional recovery with fewer potential complications.
Keywords: carpal tunnel syndrome; extracorporeal shock wave therapy; local corticosteroid injection; meta-analysis; systematic review.