Background: Spasticity is a neurological symptom frequently appearing in stroke patients which hindering patients ability for daily living and affecting the quality of life of patients. Recently extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) has been suggested as a non-invasive, alternative treatment for spasticity.
Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate the efficacy of radial ESWT on upper limb spasticity in stroke patients.
Materials and Methods: Thirty male patients, with upper limb spasticity post stroke participated in this study with a mean age of (52.25±6.3) years. They were assigned randomly into two equal groups. Group (A) received the traditional physical therapy treatment plus placebo radial ESWT. Group (B) received the traditional physical therapy treatment plus true radial ESWT. Spasticity of wrist and fingers was evaluated using Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS), Range of Motion (ROM) of the wrist was evaluated using digital goniometer and pain was measured by Visual Analogue Scale (VAS).
Results: There were a significant decreased in MAS scores in both finger flexors (from 3.2±0.5 to 1.4±0.4) and wrist flexors (from 3.4±0.4 to 2.1±0.6), also there were a significant changes in VAS scores (from 5.79±0.8 to 2.63±0.6) and ROM (from 51.4 ±4.8 to 75.7±5.5) after true ESWT stimulation, where no significant changes were noted after placebo ESWT stimulation (P>0.05).
Conclusion: Radial shock wave therapy is a promising therapeutic tool that could be used safely to reduce spasticity of the wrist and fingers flexors on stroke patients at low energy level.
Key words: Keywords: Radial shock wave, spasticity, stroke.
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