Shockwave Therapy for Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common condition which can affect any joint in the body. Most often it affects load bearing joints including the spine, hips and knees, as well as joints within the hand. Recent research including that of Liao et al (2024) demonstrated the benefits of shockwave therapy in improving pain and function in patients with knee OA.

What is Shockwave Therapy?

Shockwave therapy is a non-invasive procedure where sound waves of energy are passed through the skin to the injured tissues using a hand-held shockwave device. It is thought shockwave therapy promotes an inflammatory response within the tissues by increasing blood flow and metabolism, therefore, improving tissue healing and regeneration.

What symptoms did Mrs A present with?

Mrs A presented with a 2 year history of pain and burning at the base of her left and right thumbs (the carpometacarpal joint) which was worsened by opening jars, holding a spade to muck out her horse, and damp, cold weather. Her goals were to be able to open a jar comfortably and reduce the burning sensation at the base of her thumbs.

Assessment & Treatment

After a thorough assessment to rule out other possible pathologies and to assess Mrs A’s wrist and finger range of motion, a tailored rehabilitation exercise programme was prescribed. This included exercises to improve the amount of movement at the thumb, increase strength of the intrinsic hand muscles (the lumbricals) and improve dexterity. Mrs A was keen to try shockwave therapy alongside her exercise programme having had a friend experience excellent results following a course of shockwave treatment.

Mrs A underwent 6 sessions of shockwave therapy over a period of 6 weeks. This involved small circular movements of the handpiece around the carpometacarpal joints as well as a muscle smoothing effect at the forearm muscles. Mrs A reported improvements in her pain levels when opening jars and moving her thumb day to day as well as immediate pain relief and reduced burning sensation following each shockwave treatment session. Mrs A is now considering further shockwave therapy for OA in her feet.

If you are struggling with osteoarthritis then please do consider shockwave as an option, we are getting good results with other patients who have OA too in the shoulder, knee and hip.

You can book online, call 023 9435 0270 or email enquiries@physio-logical.net