The Efficacy of Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy for Temporomandibular Joint Disorders: A Meta‐Analysis

ABSTRACT Background Temporomandibular disorder (TMD) is a common chronic musculoskeletal pain condition. Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) has been proposed as a conservative treatment, but the evidence remains fragmented. Objective(s) To evaluate the efficacy of ESWT for TMD compared with placebo or other conservative treatments. Methods PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and CNKI were searched to September 20, 2025. Controlled clinical trials reporting pain intensity or maximal mouth opening were included. Risk of bias was assessed with RoB 2 and ROBINS‐I. Effects were pooled as mean difference or standardized mean difference with 95% confidence intervals. Results Thirteen studies involving 678 participants were included. For pain intensity, seven studies remained after sensitivity analysis and showed greater improvement with ESWT (MD = −1.77, 95% CI −2.10 to −1.44; p < 0.00001; I 2 = 36%). For maximal mouth opening, eight studies remained and favoured ESWT (SMD = 0.50, 95% CI 0.26 to 0.73; p < 0.0001; I 2 = 31%). Conclusion ESWT may improve pain and mandibular function in TMD, but methodological limitations and regional concentration of evidence warrant cautious interpretation and further high‐quality multicentre trials.