Effect of the radial shock wave therapy on the long bone fracture repair

Nowadays, various diseases of the locomotor system are treated by extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) for instance: acute fracture and pseudoarthrosis, nonunion, chronic tendinitis. Unfocused (radial) pressure wave therapy (RPWT) primarily affects superficial tissues, so justifiability of its medicinal employment is uncertain. We aimed to observe time sequence of the long bone fracture healing using RPWT. In this vein, 48 female Wistar rats were divided in RPWT group (n=36) and controls (n=12). ESWT group had the largest cross-sectional area (CSA) of the bone trabeculae compared to controls. Post-hoc analyses revealed the largest cross- sectional area (CSA) of the bone trabeculae (1.7 mm2) and the smallest CSA of the cartilage (0.04 mm2) at 22nd day, of the RPWT group. Conclusively, long bone fracture repair is enhanced in RPWT suggesting that it strongly stimulates processes of the callus ossification