Therapeutic ultrasound can be utilized as part of a comprehensive physical therapy treatment plan in Sugar Land, Bellaire & Stafford. Your physical therapist will utilize this modality alongside manual therapy, therapeutic exercise and other interventions to facilitate pain reduction and healing.
Therapeutic ultrasound uses mechanical vibration of the acoustic spectrum for therapeutic effect, transmitted using coupling gel from a base unit to a handheld transducer and applied directly over a treatment area.
Warming Effects
Most people have experienced therapeutic ultrasound at some point, usually by placing a gel onto their body and having their therapist move a transducer over an affected area. The procedure is painless; patients typically report feeling mild tingling or warmth as well as pulsing sensations from time to time during therapy sessions. Therapeutic ultrasound has proven itself effective at increasing blood flow to an area and hasten healing.
Ultrasound frequency physical therapy is a noninvasive way of treating joint and soft tissue injuries without surgery. It may be combined with manual manipulation, exercises, joint mobilization and massage techniques, while its frequency should also be noted – lower frequencies (1-3 MHz) tend to penetrate deeper tissues than higher ones (3 MHz or above).
Mechanical vibration causes tissues to heat up through cavitation, producing a warming effect which serves to prepare them for movement and increase extensibility of tissue, enabling therapists to apply more force, leading to greater muscle activity and movement as well as greater joint range of motion. This warming effect is crucial as it prepares tissues for movement while increasing extensibility for greater extensibility of tissue; ultimately resulting in greater muscle activity, joint range of motion, and range.
Ultrasound heating effects can be enhanced by increasing its contact surface area, which is accomplished by moving the sound head in either a circular or longitudinal pattern over the tissue being treated. Prolonged exposure of any area to ultrasound could result in superficial skin burns similar to sunburns.
Ultrasound can either be continuous or pulsed (interrupted), depending on its frequency and other factors. Pulsed ultrasound has proven more efficient for stimulating blood circulation to specific areas as well as speeding up fracture repair.
Therapeutic ultrasound offers many benefits and appears safe when administered by a licensed physical therapist, however it should not be used on cancerous or infectious lesions, pregnant women, pacemakers or any other implanted devices.
Increased Circulation
Ultrasound energy has long been employed in physical therapy as a therapeutic modality. The frequency of ultrasound waves determines their therapeutic impact; higher frequencies produce greater effects in deeper tissues than lower frequencies.
Acoustic waves produced by therapeutic ultrasound machines penetrate through the body’s surface and when absorbed by cells they cause oscillation in tissue particles that soften and warm as well as improve circulation in that area. This promotes better cell movement while simultaneously increasing oxygen and nutrition delivery for healing.
Sound waves also help fluids move more freely, which can be especially beneficial when treating tendons and ligaments, where fluid lubrication properties play a crucial role. Furthermore, these waves help break up scar tissue or stiffness that might restrict joint function.
As more methods of therapeutic ultrasound technology emerge, physical therapists are better able to use it to treat more conditions. For instance, ultrasound lithotripsy utilizes high pressure-amplitude shock waves to mechanically break up kidney stones without surgical removal, thus eliminating pain and the associated risks such as kidney damage or bleeding that often accompany surgery procedures.
Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound has been demonstrated to accelerate bone fracture healing, even nonunion fractures (Gebauer et al. 2005). Furthermore, its acoustic properties allow ultrasound waves to deliver drugs through sonophoresis; this involves dispensing them as small microbubbles activated by ultrasound waves.
Valeo Health near Marietta provides physical therapists trained in therapeutic ultrasound to release muscle adhesions and other restrictions that impede proper movement of muscles, joints, or other tissues – this allows more fluid movement between muscle groups while decreasing pain and inflammation. We incorporate therapeutic ultrasound as part of our holistic approach to health care along with other therapies and treatments so you can return to life as quickly as possible.
Deep Tissue/Muscle Warming
Therapeutic ultrasound is one of the most commonly utilized physical therapy modalities used to aid in healing and repair of soft tissues. Ultrasound produces acoustic vibrations that have both thermal and nonthermal effects in body tissues; sound waves absorb into skin and muscle, warming tissue while increasing blood flow – helping relieve pain, tightness, spasms as well as promote release of growth factors that will repair tissue repairs more efficiently while increasing flexibility.
Ultrasound vibrations work by breaking down adhesions in soft tissues and joints, which allows for improved movement while decreasing pain. They may also help decrease swelling caused by injury or surgery as well as inflammation in an area. Your physical therapist will likely incorporate ultrasound therapy as part of a comprehensive treatment plan for your condition and may recommend multiple sessions in order to assist healing processes and speed recovery time.
Ultrasound can be applied externally and internally as part of massage treatments or warm water baths, or integrated into other modalities like friction massage or joint mobilization. A physical therapist may adjust the frequency of their ultrasound machine so as to create either thermal or nonthermal effects in tissue; this determines how deep its sound waves penetrate. This treatment may produce either superficial or deep warming effects.
Research indicates that therapeutic ultrasound works through thermal means. Ultrasound waves cause direct micro vibrations within tissues, altering muscle viscoelasticity and stimulating endocrine systems as well as increasing blood circulation to the treated area.
Just as plastic hardens when exposed to cool temperatures, connective tissues are stiff and inelastic when cold; however, when warmed using therapeutic ultrasound they become more malleable and elastic, improving other therapies like friction massage or stretching. This can then increase their effectiveness as treatments.
Increased Flexibility
Therapeutic ultrasound can help speed healing in many different conditions. When used by physical therapists, sound waves will typically be applied over areas of pain or swelling to create vibrations in tissue that create heat that stimulate cells into producing more healing substances and increasing blood flow to increase nutrients delivery and flush away waste products from affected areas.
Physical therapists use hand-held transducers to emit acoustic energy into the body using continuous waves or pulsed waves, depending on their desired effect. Continuous waves produce thermal effects like increased blood flow, flexibility of muscles and tendons, decreased pain and stiffness while pulsed waves promote collagen synthesis as well as an increase in tissue permeability which aid in breaking down scar tissue.
Studies into the efficacy of therapeutic ultrasound found that this technique could significantly decrease shoulder stiffness among patients with limited range of motion (ROM). When combined with stretching exercises and ultrasound therapy, this therapy was found to significantly expand patients’ ROM.
Physical therapists who employ TENS or acupuncture techniques have shown this modality to have high efficacy and patient benefits with relatively low risks of harm in the hands of an experienced physical therapist. TENS and acupuncture may also be utilized.
Therapeutic ultrasound works by stimulating transport of compounds into the skin through sonophoresis. This method is useful in administering medications to specific regions that would otherwise be hard to reach via injection.
Therapeutic ultrasound can be an effective means of treating many conditions, including back and neck pain, sprains/strains and sports injuries. If you’re suffering from any such discomforts, visit Rebound Physical Therapy in Boise to see how our physical therapists can use ultrasound treatment to promote healing and reduce your pain. Our attentive physical therapists take an in-depth approach to understanding the cause of your discomfort before developing solutions to fix it.
