Global trends in research on extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) from 2000 to 2021

Xinyu Zhang; Yuewen Ma

doi:10.1186/s12891-023-06407-9

Global trends in research on extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) from 2000 to 2021

BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2023 Apr 20;24(1):312. doi: 10.1186/s12891-023-06407-9.

Authors

Xinyu Zhang¹, Yuewen Ma²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Rehabilitation, The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, 155 Nanjing Street, 110001, Shenyang, P.R. China.
² Department of Rehabilitation, The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, 155 Nanjing Street, 110001, Shenyang, P.R. China. yuewen_m@126.com.

Abstract

Background: This study intended to analyze the application of extracorporeal shock wave therapy in medicine and to evaluate the quality of related literature.

Methods: All publications were extracted from 2000 to 2021 from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). The literature characteristics were depicted by VOSviewer (version 1.6.15) and the online bibliometric website ( http://bibliometric.com/ ). The future trends and hotspots were conducted by Bibliographic Item Co-occurrence Matrix Builder (version 2.0) and gCLUTO software.

Results: We analyzed 1774 articles corresponding to the criteria for ESWT publications from 2000 to 2021. Most studies were conducted within the United States and China which besides have the most cooperation. The most published research institutions are Chang Gung University, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, and Kaohsiung Medical University. Six research hotspots were identified by keyword clustering analysis: Cluster0: The effects of ESWT on muscle spasticity; Cluster1: The application of ESWT in osteoarthritis (OA); Cluster2: Therapeutic effect of ESWT on tendon diseases; Cluster3: Early application of ESWT/ESWL in urolithiasis; Cluster4: The Role of angiogenesis in ESWT and the efficiency of ESWT for penile disease; Cluster5: The Special value of radial extracorporeal shock wave therapy (rESWT).

Conclusions: A comprehensive and systematic bibliometric analysis of ESWT was conducted in our study. We identified six ESWT-related research hotspots and predicted future research trends. With the gradual increase of research on ESWT, we find that ESWT is used more and more extensively, such in musculoskeletal disease, bone delay union, neurological injury, andrology disorders, lymphedema, and so on. In addition, the mechanism is not destructive damage, as initially thought, but a restorative treatment. Furthermore, delayed union, cellulite, burn, and diabetic foot ulcers may be the future direction of scientific study.

Keywords: Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT); Research hotspots; VOSviewer.

MeSH terms

China
Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy*
Humans
Muscle Spasticity