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Activate your body’s own innate healing responses to recover painful or injured tissue. Shockwave technology calls in your body’s own repairman to heal tissue from the inside out, without the use of drugs, injections, or surgery.
We are pleased to offer Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy (ESWT) at Fusion Physical Medicine. ESWT is a non-surgical/non-injection procedure used to heal chronic plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendonitis, neck/low back pain, tennis/golfers elbow, shoulder tendonitis, hamstring injuries, hip pain, and other acute or chronic disorders. These conditions can impact the quality of your life and limit the activities you enjoy.
Since ESWT is non-invasive, there is no lengthy recovery period and virtually no side effects or time off from activities/work. Shockwave therapy is an innovative therapy that can target specific pain in the bones, joints, muscles, tendons, and ligaments. In many cases, it can provide significant or total relief of pain for a variety of conditions.
ESWT employs a series of low-energy acoustic waves delivered to the patient’s skin via a transducer and a topical gel as a medium. It is completely non-invasive and does not necessitate the use of anesthesia or pain medications.
As a mechanical stimulus, the device sends shockwaves into affected tissues. These waves produce tiny vibrations in the tissue promoting repair. The tissue responds by increasing blood flow, releasing growth factors, and stimulating stem cells activating the body’s innate healing mechanisms. The goal is to promote new tissue growth, collagen production, and regeneration. This results in stronger tissues, faster healing times, and pain relief.
What can shockwave therapy treat?
Shockwave therapy is beneficial for patients with painful soft tissue (muscle, tendon, and ligament), joint and bone conditions. The therapy can help those with sports or overuse injuries and can be combined with physical therapy or other treatments for a range of complaints.
Most commonly, shockwave therapy is used to help treat the following conditions:
● Achilles tendinopathy (pain in the tendon that connects the back of the foot to the calf muscle)
● Plantar fasciitis (pain in the underside/heel of the foot)
● Tennis elbow (pain on the outer side of the elbow)
● Golfers elbow (pain on the inner side of the elbow)
● Neck and low back pain
● Calcific tendonitis
● Patellofemoral syndrome (runner’s knee)
● Iliotibial band Syndrome, or ITBS (pain that stretches from the outside of the hip down the outer thigh to the outside of the knee caused by running and cycling)
● Medial tibial stress syndrome (shin splints)
● Hamstring, quadricep, and calf injuries/pain
Shockwave therapy is particularly effective in the treatment of tendinopathies, which are often slow to heal, as well as tendinosis, a degenerative condition of injured/damaged tendons. After just one treatment session, many patients report significant pain relief.
Once an accurate diagnosis has been made, a shockwave treatment plan will be outlined. This will include the number of recommended treatments and time between therapies. In most cases, three sessions are performed about a week apart. Depending on the location of your condition, you will lay on your back, side, or on your stomach in a comfortable position. A treatment area will be discussed based on your issue.
The shockwave device will be set to a level that minimizes discomfort while stimulating your body to heal. A water-based gel is applied to allow the device to smoothly glide over the skin. The handheld device is then moved through a wide region with a focus on damaged tissues. The session lasts about 5 to 15 minutes.
Patients may experience temporary swelling and tenderness at the treatment site for a couple of days because ESWT causes a mild inflammatory response. This inflammatory response, as described above, is the body’s pathway to heal damaged or injured tissue.
Can shockwave therapy be combined with other treatments?
Yes, it is very effective when combined with physical therapy, acupuncture, and chiropractic care. This therapy can also supplement your own home exercise/stretching program. We have also found significant benefits combined with platelet rich plasma and prolotherapy injection treatments.
History of Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy
In the 1960s and 1970s, scientists began investigating the potential use of shockwaves on human tissue, and by the mid-1980s, shock waves were being used as a lithotripsy treatment to break up kidney stones and gallstones. This marked the beginning of non-invasive technologies for treating human tissues.
Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy (ESWT), also known as shockwave therapy, was first used in clinical practice in 1982 to treat urologic conditions. This technology’s success in the treatment of urinary stones quickly established it as a first-line, noninvasive, and effective method. Following that, ESWT was investigated in orthopedics, where it was discovered that it could loosen the cement in total hip arthroplasty revisions. Furthermore, animal studies conducted in the 1980s revealed that ESWT could improve fracture healing by augmenting the bone-cement interface, increasing osteogenic response, and improving osteogenic response. While shockwave therapy has been shown to aid in fracture healing, most orthopedic research has concentrated on upper and lower extremity tendinopathies, fascia disorders, and soft tissue conditions. Shock wave therapy has been used to treat musculoskeletal disorders for about 15 years.
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