PURPOSE: To determine whether shock wave therapy could improve symptoms and hand function in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Medline, Embase, Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, OpenGrey, CNKI, VIP, Wang Fang databases, and China Biological Medicine were searched, from inception to December 2019. RESULTS: Ten trials involving 433 patients (501 wrists) were included in this systematic review. The shock wave therapy was observed to have a significant effect on pain relief (MD -0.60, 95% CI -1.16 to -0.05, p = 0.03), syndrome alleviation (MD -2.26, 95% CI -3.24 to -1.27, p < 0.00001) and functional recovery (MD -1.25 95% CI -2.08 to -0.43, p = 0.003) among the carpal tunnel syndrome patients. As revealed by the subgroup analysis, radial shock wave therapy made a significant difference in pain relief, syndrome alleviation, and functional recovery (p < 0.05). Focused shock wave had no significant effect on pain relief, syndrome alleviation, and functional recovery (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Shock wave therapy could be conducive to improve syndrome and hand function for carpal tunnel syndrome patients.

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