Cracking the code: Understanding ESWT's role in bone fracture healing

作者：Nan Jing, Yu Hou, Jia-Chang Zhang, Guangyu Xu, Mingcheng Lei, Xiaobin Tang, Wei Chen, Hongbin Ni, Feng Zhang · 发表于：Journal of Orthopaedic Translation · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1016/j.jot.2024.11.006 · 被引用次数：4 · 研究领域：Bone fractures and treatments、Connective tissue disorders research、Bone health and osteoporosis research

Bone non-union has always been a research hotspot in the field of orthopedics. Non-unions are often accompanied by symptoms such as pain, deformity, and dysfunction, which can significantly affect patients' quality of life and cause related socioeconomic problems. Clinically, there are various treatments available for non-unions, and the main treatment methods are divided into surgical and non-surgical treatments. At present, surgery is the most widely used treatment for bone non-unions and has a high healing rate. However, even after surgery, some patients still face the problem of bone non-union. Furthermore, a small number of patients have surgical contraindications and could not tolerate surgery. Therefore, alternative treatments are needed to improve outcomes for patients with bone fractures. Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) is a non-invasive treatment method with similar efficacy and better safety compared with surgery. Nevertheless, the exact mechanism for ESWT to treat patients with bone non-union are still not well understood. This article reviews the mechanisms of ESWT in promoting bone fracture healing by regulating osteoblasts and osteoclasts, providing a theoretical foundation for the clinical application of ESWT. The Translational Potential of this Article: This review provides a comprehensive overview of the mechanisms underlying ESWT on promoting bone fracture healing by regulating osteoblasts and osteoclasts. The information provided in this article c...