What does shockwave therapy do?
If you’ve sustained an injury and/or are experiencing acute pain, your doctor might recommend shockwave therapy. Before you balk at this painful-sounding technique, though, it may be comforting to know that it isn’t the same as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT or “shock” therapy), which is itself a commonly effective psychiatric treatment you’ve probably seen in movies, albeit portrayed in a very different manner than the more refined, modern approaches to this delicate procedure.
Shockwave therapy — which is also known as extracorporeal shockwave therapy — is administered to a tendon or muscle through the skin with a small, handheld device that’s similar to an ultrasound wand. Learn more about what makes this technique effective for injuries and who should consider it as a treatment.
What Is Shockwave Therapy?
If you’ve ever struggled with an injury or dealt with an ache that just wouldn’t mend, your body might have benefited from extra help during the healing process. Shockwave therapy can offer such help, jump-starting the body’s ability to regenerate new tissue. It also decreases your pain by directly stimulating your nerves at the site of the injury. Though the name of the treatment makes it sound painful, it’s only mildly uncomfortable for most people.
It’s often prescribed as a treatment for patients who have sports injuries like a golfers elbow, tennis elbow, or pulled hamstring. It’s also administered to patients who experience pain in their soft tissues, such as that caused by plantar fasciitis — a painful condition that affects the heels of the feet.
What is shockwave therapy?
Shockwave therapy is a non-invasive treatment that stimulates the body's natural healing process. It can relieve pain and promote healing of injured tendons, ligaments, and other soft tissues. It accomplishes this by releasing growth factors in the injured tissue.
How does a shockwave work?
A shockwave is generated when a wave propagates through a medium at a speed faster than the speed of sound travels through that medium. Shockwaves produce an abrupt spike in pressure over a very short time period (Figure 2).Nov 14, 2019
Does shock wave therapy really work?
Shockwave therapy can offer such help, jump-starting the body's ability to regenerate new tissue. It also decreases your pain by directly stimulating your nerves at the site of the injury. Though the name of the treatment makes it sound painful, it's only mildly uncomfortable for most people.