Progress of shock wave therapy in orthopedics-regenerative medicine

Shock wave therapy (SWT) is a economic and effective noninvasive treatment that involves delivery of shock waves to the painful region with the objective of reducing pain and promoting tissue healing. SWT is widely used in orthopedics, and the combination of extracorporeal shock wave therapy and autologous bone marrow stem cells (MSCs) transplantation has been applied in treatment of osteonecrosis of femoral head. It can promote the osteoblastic differentiation and MSCs proliferation, and slow down the disease development. Therefore, SWT can be regarded as a novel treatment modality in regenerative orthopedics. This paper mainly elaborates the role of mechanical signal transduction of shock wave in cell biological functions, and its clinical application prospects of SWT.