The Effect of Shock Wave Therapy on Improving the Symptoms and Function of Patients with Dupuytren's Contracture

INTRODUCTION: We aimed to evaluate the effect of shock wave therapy on the improvement of symptoms and function of patients with Dupuytren's contracture. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This research is a pre-post intervention study, conducted among patients referred to the physical medicine clinics of Isfahan during 2019–2020. In this study, subjects experienced shock wave therapy for 6 sessions, each in a week, and improvement of symptoms and function were assessed and compared after the period of study and follow-up (before treatment, 6 weeks after treatment, and 14 weeks after treatment). The pain visual analog scale and disabilities of the arm shoulder and hand questionnaire were completed for all patients at the mentioned time, and the finger contraction angle was also measured by a goniometer over these intervals. RESULTS: Twenty patients, 11 (55%) men and 9 (45%) women participated in the study. The mean and standard deviation of their age was 66.6 ± 7.11 years. The trend of pain severity of patients was continuously and significantly decreasing up to 14 weeks, which implies the effectiveness of the intervention (P < 0.05). Moreover, the patients’ functional status improved due to the continuation of the intervention, and its trend was decreasing up to 14 weeks (P < 0.05). As for the contraction angle, there was a continuous and significant decreasing trend until week 14, and the intervention was also effective on the contraction angle (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that shock wave therapy can be effective in improving the symptoms and function of patients with Dupuytren's Contracture.