Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy was applied in the early 1980s and has proven to be a safe and effective non-invasive treatment for most upper urinary tract stones. The efficacy of extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy is not only related to the size of the stone, but also to its location, chemical composition and anatomical abnormalities. Stone size: Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy should be preferred for kidney stones less than 20 mm in diameter. Location of stones: pelvic stones are easily crushed, and stones in the middle and upper renal calyces have better efficacy than stones in the lower calyces. Stone composition: magnesium ammonium phosphate and calcium oxalate dihydrate stones are easy to crush, uric acid stones can be treated with extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy, calcium oxalate monohydrate and cystine stones are harder to crush. Anatomical abnormalities: horseshoe kidney, ectopic kidney and transplanted kidney stones and malformations of the renal collecting system can affect the discharge of stone fragments and can be treated with adjunctive lithotripsy measures. Number of treatments and treatment interval: The recommended number of extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy treatments is no more than 3 to 5 (depending on the lithotripter used). There is no definite standard for the interval between treatments, but most scholars, by studying the time of repair after kidney injury, believe that an interval of 10 to 14 days is appropriate. The current contraindications are pregnant women, bleeding disorders that cannot be corrected, obstruction in the urinary tract below the stone, severe obesity or skeletal deformities, high-risk patients such as heart failure, severe cardiac arrhythmias and active tuberculosis of the urinary system.