BACKGROUND

Greater trochanteric pain syndrome (GTPS) affects 17.6% of adults aged 50 to 79 years, particularly women. While exercise therapy and corticosteroid injections (CSIs) are common treatments, their limitations include inadequate pain control and potential tendon weakening. Extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) is an emerging alternative for GTPS. This systematic review assessed ESWT's efficacy in GTPS by evaluating pain and functional outcomes at different follow-up intervals.

METHODS

A literature search of PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science for randomized clinical trials (RCTs) was conducted comparing ESWT with other GTPS treatments up to March 1, 2024. Two reviewers independently extracted data, assessing study quality using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool. A random-effects pairwise meta-analysis compared ESWT with other treatments.

RESULTS

Eight RCTs involving 754 patients (169 male, 585 female patients) were included. Seven RCTs were deemed high risk of bias, and 1 RCT had some concerns. Five RCTs investigated focused on focused ESWT, and 3 examined radial ESWT. ESWT provided significantly lower pain scores than other treatments at 2 to 4 months (standardized mean difference = -0.431; 95% confidence interval [CI], -0.82 to -0.039; I2 = 83%). Functional improvement (Lower Extremity Functional Scale) was significantly higher at 6 months (weighted mean difference = 6.68; 95% CI, 3.11-10.25; I2 = 0%) but did not exceed the minimal clinically important difference. Focused ESWT provided greater pain reduction than radial ESWT.

CONCLUSION

Three weekly ESWT sessions offer short-term pain relief at 2 to 4 months for patients with GTPS, especially with focused ESWT. Functional improvements at 6 months were notable but not clinically significant. These findings suggest ESWT may complement or serve as an alternative to CSIs and exercise. However, caution is needed when interpreting these results due to high risk of bias with the included RCTs and heterogeneity across the studies. Further high-quality trials are needed to confirm ESWT's long-term benefits over other treatments.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Level II. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.