〔Abstract〕 Objective To investigate the effect of divergent extracorporeal shock wave in the treatment of chronic joint pain. Methods 80 patients with joint exogenous chronic pain admitted to Yong'an Municipal Hospital from February 2019 to February 2021 were retrospectively selected, and divided into rehabilitation training group (conventional rehabilitation training treatment) and adjuvant therapy group (conventional rehabilitation training addition of divergent extracorporeal shock wave adjuvant therapy) according to different treatment methods, with 40 cases in each. The degree of pain, dysfunction, limb function, quality of life [(World Health Organization short form of quality of life-100 (WHOQOL-100)], pain and swelling regression time, clinical efficacy, and treatment satisfaction in the two groups were statistically analyzed. Results After treatment, the scores of visual analogue scale (VAS) and Oswestry disability index (ODI) in the auxiliary treatment group were lower than those in the rehabilitation training group, and the scores of the upper limb and lower limb simple Fugl-Meyer assessment scale (FMA) were higher than those in the rehabilitation training group, the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). After treatment, the environmental, physiological, psychological, independent, social, spiritual/belief/religion scores of the adjuvant therapy group were higher than those of the rehabilitation training group, the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). The times of pain and swelling regression in the adjuvant therapy group were shorter than those in the rehabilitation training group, and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). The total effective rate of the adjuvant therapy group was 97.50 %, higher than 72.50 % of the rehabilitation training group, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The satisfaction of patients in the auxiliary treatment group was 97.50 %, higher than 80.00 % in the rehabilitation training group, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Conclusion The diverging extracorporeal shock wave is effective in the treatment of joint exogenous chronic pain.