Shock wave therapy helps in stroke spasms

Focused shock wave therapy can relieve muscle spasms in the hands and wrists that occur after a stroke. The benefits of this therapy may persist for 12 weeks after treatment. Shock wave therapy is commonly used to break up kidney stones and it has also proven useful in the treatment of various bone and tendon diseases, but there's not much known about its use for abnormal muscle tension, or hypertonia. Researchers from the University of Verona assessed the outcomes of 20 patients with stroke-related hypertonia in the upper limbs who were first treated with sham stimulation and then with shock wave therapy a week later. The treatment consisted of pressure pulses from a lithotripter device aimed at hypertonic muscles in the forearm and hand. Much lower energies were used than what is customary for dealing with kidney stones, so the procedure was painless and patients didn't need anaesthesia. Compared with placebo stimulation, shock wave treatment was associated with significantly greater improvements in muscle tone of the wrist and fingers. After 4 weeks, shock wave therapy was tied to significant reductions in passive muscle tension in all the patients. At 12 weeks, half of the patients still showed a reduction in muscle tone. None of the patients experienced any adverse effects from shock wave therapy. The findings could thus open new areas of research in the treatment of hypertonicity.