Author: Leal C1, D'Agostino C2, Gomez Garcia S3, Fernandez A4
Affiliation: <sup>1</sup>Fenway Medical Shockwave Medicine Center, Universidad El Bosque, Bogotá, Colombia. Electronic address: chazleal@gmail.com.
<sup>2</sup>Instituto Humanitas, Milan, Italy.
<sup>3</sup>Unidad Medica Deportiva, Policia Nacional de Colombia, Bogota, Colombia.
<sup>4</sup>Fenway Medical Shockwave Medicine Center, Universidad El Bosque, Bogotá, Colombia.
Conference/Journal: Int J Surg.
Date published: 2015 Dec
Other:
Volume ID: 24 , Issue ID: Pt B , Pages: 195-200 , Special Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.ijsu.2015.07.723. Epub 2015 Aug 25. , Word Count: 182
Stress fractures are common painful conditions in athletes, usually associated to biomechanical overloads. Low risk stress fractures usually respond well to conservative treatments, but up to one third of the athletes may not respond, and evolve into high-risk stress fractures. Surgical stabilization may be the final treatment, but it is a highly invasive procedure with known complications. Shockwave treatments (ESWT), based upon the stimulation of bone turnover, osteoblast stimulation and neovascularization by mechanotransduction, have been successfully used to treat delayed unions and avascular necrosis. Since 1999 it has also been proposed in the treatment of stress fractures with excellent results and no complications. We have used focused shockwave treatments in professional athletes and military personnel with a high rate of recovery, return to competition and pain control. We present the current concepts of shockwave treatments for stress fractures, and recommend it as the primary standard of care in low risk patients with poor response to conventional treatments.
Copyright © 2015 IJS Publishing Group Limited. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
KEYWORDS: Bone overuse; Bone turnover; Mechanotransduction; Shockwave therapy; Stress fractures
PMID: 26318502 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijsu.2015.07.723