Extracorporeal shockwave therapy for the treatment of scaphoid delayed union in a tennis player: A case report

Operative procedures are considered the gold standard when treating delayed union or non-union of the scaphoid despite their considerable complexity and the risk of intraoperative complications. Although extracorporeal shockwave therapy has been reported as a non-invasive treatment option for non-union cases, only a few papers on delayed union or non-union of the scaphoid have been published. A 57-year-old man with delayed union of a scaphoid fracture was treated with extracorporeal shockwave therapy and showed complete bone healing with promising results two months after the start of treatment without undergoing surgery. This result indicated that extracorporeal shockwave therapy could be an option for treating delayed union of scaphoid fractures.