Shockingly Good Results – All You Need To Know About Shockwave Therapy
Here is Physiotherapy@Woodbridge’s guide to Shockwave Therapy.
What is Shockwave Therapy?
Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy (ESWT) is a non-invasive, non-surgical treatment which works by delivering impulses of energy or shock waves to an injured area to aid healing by increasing blood flow to the affected tissue. The reduction in pain and improvement in healing that occurs allows symptoms to reduce and for you to become more active.
Shockwave therapy is delivered by a machine which has a probe attached to it and it has different settings and fittings which attach to the probe. This helps to target different body parts with accuracy and also to achieve the depth of the impulses into different parts of the body. Shockwave therapy helps to kick-start your healing response and increase the speed of your recovery – it is stated to improve healing rates by 40%. Shockwave is now a tool used in most professional sports treatment rooms to keep athletes fit.
What Conditions Can Shockwave Treat?
Shockwave has shown great results with issues such as plantar fasciitis, tennis/golfers elbow, rotator cuff tendinitis and achilles tendinopathy. Shockwave’s benefits have been reflected in clinical research and as its popularity grows, so does its use throughout the medical and therapy community with rising numbers of success stories.
Shockwave therapy at Physiotherapy@Woodbridge is great for new and old injuries which affect soft tissues of the body. As mentioned above – tendon issues have great results, especially rotator cuff tendon problems and achilles tendinopathy. Newer injuries such as elbow tendon problems and shin splints are also effectively treated.
Studies have shown up to a 94% decrease in pain with plantar fasciitis and heel pain using shockwave therapy. Click the link above to look at some great research findings.
What is Involved?
When receiving shockwave therapy, a gel will be applied over the affected site and the probe will be applied. The probe is pressed on to the skin which sends shockwaves through the tissue that is being treated, and helps initiate the body to respond naturally by increasing circulation of blood, the number of blood vessels and initiating a healing response.
Shockwave treatment is not painful but may be slightly uncomfortable as the waves can be felt as pulses while it is being administered. Treatments will not last longer than 20 minutes and you will need a course of treatments to help your problem.
Treatment will typically be once per week and each condition will need on average between 3-6 sessions to give you the best outcome. Shockwave treatment will need to be accompanied by some simple rehabilitation exercises. Your physiotherapist will take you through specific rehabilitation for your problem.
Need More Info?
Shockwave therapy is a great way to recover from an injury you have just suffered or to get over an old injury which is holding you back. We are also finding that Shockwave has a great cost effect/benefit ratio. This is due to how quickly you can start to recover. A lot of clients will visit us having spent endless amounts of money on treatments or products which have not helped them.
All of our clinicians at Physiotherapy @ Woodbridge in Vaughan are experienced with shockwave therapy and have helped many people to recover from their injuries.
For more information visit our Shockwave Therapy page on our website or call the clinic on 289-475-2147 and we will be happy to answer any questions you may have. To book a session at Woodbridge Physiotherapy you can call the clinic or book online.
