Shockwave therapy is one of the most effective noninvasive solutions for persistent musculoskeletal conditions. It works by stimulating natural healing processes within the body to decrease pain.
Shock waves are produced using a special generator and focused by means of a lens; the device can produce both focal and radial shockwaves.
Reduces pain
Shockwave therapy reduces pain by increasing blood flow and stimulating the body’s natural healing processes. This noninvasive treatment helps heal conditions like plantar fasciitis, rotator cuff tears and fractured bones – it may even be effective against chronic muscle pain and trigger points resistant to other treatments.
At each treatment session, a handheld device uses acoustic waves to target painful areas on your body. These waves penetrate deep into tissues, stimulating natural healing processes like increased cell regeneration and breaking down scar tissue formation. As it requires neither surgery nor medication for treatment, noninvasive therapy offers safe and effective options for patients.
Therapy sessions typically last 10-20 minutes each, and your physician or physical therapist may use either focused shockwave (FSW) or radial shockwave (RPW), both providing similar biological responses; FSW differs in that it can target deeper tissues more effectively.
Your doctor will identify the target area for treatment and apply a conductive gel to ensure sound waves can reach it efficiently. Acoustic waves then penetrate tissues and cause mechanotransduction – causing changes at a cellular level such as migration of new cells, altered pain pathways or increased neovascularization and osteoprogenitor differentiation.
Due to these biological effects, your doctor will likely suggest multiple weeks of shockwave therapy treatment, ideally 2-3 times per week. Although it can cause slight discomfort during sessions, most people find them well tolerated and the benefits, risks, and side effects will be discussed before suggesting shockwave therapy for your condition.
ESWT may cause discomfort in the form of pain, bruising and swelling at the treatment site; these side effects should resolve several days prior to your next session. Because ESWT is noninvasive, this procedure makes an ideal option for individuals with limited mobility who can’t take time off work or school to receive care; additionally it may help people avoid prescription and over-the-counter pain medication which could potentially have side effects.
Stimulates healing
Shockwave therapy uses shock waves to speed the recovery of injured tendons, ligaments, muscles and bone by encouraging cell division and repair as well as increasing blood flow to the injured area. This allows your body to heal naturally while reducing pain and speeding recovery time from injuries or chronic conditions.
ESWT can be an effective treatment option for most individuals; however, in certain circumstances it may not be suitable. When there are pregnant women, malignant tumors, lung tissue or epiphyseal plates in the treatment area or when ESWT may not be covered by insurance, ESWT should not be undertaken.
ESWT may work through mechanotransduction – meaning the mechanical pressure and tension created by shock waves changes cell membrane permeability which then stimulates circulation and metabolism, helping the tissue heal itself more effectively. Shockwaves also may stimulate endorphin release within your body which act as natural painkillers.
Shockwaves can help promote collagen production, which is essential for tissue repair. Increased blood flow and collagen production promote healing in affected areas while simultaneously relieving pain and inflammation.
Shockwave therapy can also break up calcific deposits that have formed in injured tissue, which may be helpful when it comes to degenerative tendinopathies like tennis elbow or plantar fasciitis that have an accumulation of these calcific deposits in their affected tendons.
ESWT is widely utilized for treating musculoskeletal conditions involving major connective tissues attached to bones, such as tendons, ligaments, capsules and muscles found in the shoulder (ex: rotator cuff), hip, knee and foot (plantar fasciitis).
To perform ESWT treatment, we apply ultrasound gel directly onto the injury site before placing the hand piece of our device over it. From there, compressed air pulses travel through the ultrasound gel and deliver shockwaves directly into damaged tissues – we will adjust power and intensity as necessary; no anesthesia or downtime required!
Reduces inflammation
Shock waves create mechanical pressure that stimulates interstitial and extracellular responses that promote healing while relieving pain for certain musculoskeletal conditions, providing both short- and long-term relief from symptoms such as chronic pain or muscle spasticity. This treatment has proven useful across a range of conditions ranging from chronic backache to muscle spasticity.
Shock waves are applied to an affected area using a handheld device, and may include applying conductive gel in order to increase transmission of sound waves. A typical ESWT session typically lasts about 15 minutes and typically involves multiple pulses of shockwaves depending on both condition being treated and patient tolerance levels.
Mechanical stimulation produced by shock waves stimulates the formation of new blood vessels (neovascularization). The resultant increase in circulation enables more oxygen and nutrients to reach tissues quickly, speeding healing processes while simultaneously decreasing inflammation. Furthermore, shock waves have the ability to disrupt pain signaling pathways thus decreasing sensitivity.
Plantar fasciitis treatment using ESWT has shown to be effective, with patients reporting an average reduction in symptoms by 70% after six weekly treatments. Radial and focused shockwaves were used to target both superficial and deep foot tissues simultaneously for maximum therapeutic effect. ESWT also offers new applications like encouraging bone healing from stress fractures with its focused shockwave technology.
ESWT therapy can also be an effective solution to treating calcific tendinopathy with focused shockwaves to break up calcium deposits, thus decreasing pain and increasing mobility while stimulating collagen and other healing molecules production.
ESWT’s noninvasive, drug-free nature makes it an attractive treatment option for many seeking alternatives to surgery for chronic musculoskeletal conditions. Patients can return faster than traditional treatment methods; pain levels are reduced significantly; further injuries prevented; quality of life improved overall. For more information about ESWT and how it could benefit you personally, consult your physical therapist or physician who will recommend the right therapy plan to meet your specific needs.
Reduces scar tissue
Researchers from Stanford and other institutions have evaluated an extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) treatment that has proven successful at relieving plantar fasciitis – a common condition causing heel pain and restricting mobility – using extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT). Their analysis concluded that ESWT stimulates collagen production while decreasing scar tissue formation; additionally it has shown to significantly improve both pain management and mobility for those suffering with resistant cases of plantar fasciitis.
The team employed focused and radial shockwave devices to generate acoustic waves that penetrate soft tissues of the body. These devices produce two types of pressure waves: focused shockwaves (FSW) and radial shockwaves (RPW), with FSW possessing physical properties distinct from those of its counterpart RPW; however both produce different biologic effects; FSW being effective against tendinopathies and fasciopathies while RPW was found beneficial against delayed bone healing, stress fractures, osteochondritis dissecans without joint derangements among others.
Acoustic waves stimulate the body’s natural healing response by increasing blood flow and encouraging tissue regeneration, while simultaneously decreasing inflammation caused by injuries, leading to faster recovery times and less discomfort at the injury site. Furthermore, this treatment is safe and noninvasive – perfect for most patients!
Though their exact mechanism of action remains unknown, researchers believe acoustic waves can be effective at treating various musculoskeletal conditions through mechanotransduction cellular mechanotransduction stimulation and mechanical stimuli which stimulate cell migration and proliferation, alter pain pathways, increase neovascularization, promote osteoprogenitor differentiation.
Study participants included 63 patients who were not responding to other non-surgical treatments for more than 6 months and received ESWT treatments using a Dornier Lithotripter S device, with 6-week followup, second clinic evaluation, and phone followup at an average of 73 months (average followup was around 72 months). Eighty percent of those receiving the ESWT experienced at least 30% pain reduction; this success rate held steady throughout time – in line with findings of other research about recalcitrant plantar fasciitis; results of this study suggest that using high energy RF in combination with ESWT may provide the best solution to treating recalcitrant plantar fasciitis.
