What is Shockwave Therapy? Guide by Dr. Geetanjali Physiotherapist

If you’ve ever had a persistent ache or suffered from a sports injury, your body may have needed additional support as it healed. Such assistance is possible using shockwave therapy, which can accelerate the body’s capacity to produce new tissue. By immediately stimulating your nerves at the injured location, it also lessens discomfort. Although the treatment’s name implies that it is painful, most people find it to be only mildly uncomfortable.

Introduction: What is Shockwave Therapy?

Shockwave therapy is an innovative procedure that uses acoustic shockwaves to break up soft tissue calcifications, promote collagen synthesis, release growth factors, and encourage your body’s natural healing process. This helps you stay active and reduce discomfort.

This treatment improves blood flow and hastens the recovery of persistent musculoskeletal disorders affecting the muscles, ligaments, tendons, and bones. There are no incisions or recovery periods needed for shockwave therapy. After just three sessions, which last roughly fifteen minutes each, the majority of patients experience long-lasting benefits.

How Does Shockwave Therapy Work?

Shockwave therapy works through several important mechanisms, some of which are as follows:

Pain Reduction: Shockwave therapy helps patients with chronic pain disorders by blocking pain receptors and reducing the transmission of pain.
Collagen Production: In order to restore the structural integrity of tendons, ligaments, and other connective tissues, the treatment promotes the synthesis of collagen.
Neovascularization: Shockwaves promote the development of new blood vessels, which improves tissue repair and blood flow to the wounded area.
Cell Growth & Proliferation: The mechanical energy of shockwaves can break down scar tissue and encourage the formation of new cells, which will result in the proliferation of cells that are necessary for tissue repair.

Benefits of Shockwave Therapy

Shockwave therapy comes with many benefits, including:

Formation of new blood vessels: The formation of new blood vessels boosts blood supply and oxygen in the affected area and is required to support tissue regeneration.
Trigger point release: They are primarily located in the back, neck, shoulder, and limbs, and tight trigger points in these locations can cause discomfort.
Reversal of Chronic Inflammation: Inflammation is reversed when mast cell activity increases, hence helping in wound healing
Breaks down calcium buildup—calcium can accumulate as a result of microtears or other tendon stress.
Substance P depletion: this is a neurotransmitter that is commonly related to severe, chronic pain.

Patients may see a reduction in discomfort immediately following the operation, or it may take several days. Patients may have pain relief immediately following the surgery, or it may take several days. It is recommended that you avoid physical exertion for 48 hours following the treatment.

Applications of Shockwave Therapy in Physiotherapy

Shockwave therapy can boost the body’s natural inflammatory healing process, mend tissue, and change how pain is felt. These impacts are cellular as well as physical. These signals can then cause the cells to renew, enabling healing. Some of the common applications in physiotherapy include:

TENDINOPATHIES

Radial shockwave therapy has shown great promise in the treatment of persistent tendinopathies, including

– Tennis elbow, also known as lateral epicondylitis, affects the outside of the elbow.

– Medial epicondylitis, which affects the inside of the elbow, is known as golfer’s elbow.

– Achilles tendinitis (heel tendon)

– Patellar tendinopathy, or kneecap tendinopathy

Shockwave therapy treatment helps patients return to their everyday activities more quickly by promoting tendon recovery and providing immediate pain relief.

PLANTAR FASCIITIS

Shockwave treatment is revolutionary for people with plantar fasciitis, which causes unbearable pain.

The plantar fascia’s ability to regenerate tissue provides patients with considerable pain alleviation and increased mobility. With shockwave treatment, the majority of patients are pleased that their plantar fasciitis discomfort is going away.

CALCIFIC SHOULDER TENDINOPATHY

It might be difficult to cure this painful shoulder ailment, which is characterized by calcium deposits in the shoulder tendons.
Working with physiotherapists, shockwave therapy has become a viable non-surgical approach to dissolve these calcifications, quickly lowering discomfort and enhancing shoulder function, strength, and movement.

STRESS FRACTURES

Shockwave therapy helps speed up the healing of stress fractures by increasing bone cell activity and blood supply to the affected bone damage or contusion areas.

MYOFASCIAL TRIGGER POINTS

Myofascial trigger points are extremely painful knots in the muscles that can even “travel or radiate” downward or upward. A trigger point in the upper shoulder, for instance, may cause pain to spread downward into the arm and hand or upward, resulting in headaches.
Shockwave therapy offers quick pain relief and encourages muscular relaxation, making it a potentially very successful treatment option for people with trigger points and persistent muscle discomfort.

Types of Shockwave Therapy

Radial Shockwave Therapy:

The shock waves in RSWT radiate outward from the application site. This kind is often less powerful than FSWT and is used to treat superficial tissues.
RSWT uses transmitters and pressurized air to identify the wave shape, operating on a pneumatic principle. Radial shockwave therapy delivers shock waves up to 4 cm deep and has a lower maximum intensity.

Focused Shockwave Therapy :

FSWT uses a single acoustic pulse that is concentrated on a specific point. Typically applied to deep tissues, this kind of shockwave therapy can be customized to reach particular depths and intensities according to the patient’s condition. FSWT operates on an electroacoustic principle, applying deeper, more focused, and customizable waves through the use of coupling pads and electromagnetism. Focused shock waves are perfect for addressing deeper problem regions like hamstring, pelvic, or hip difficulties since they allow for “adjustable” penetration based on location.
The characteristics of focused waves include a higher maximum intensity, a converging wave, and an adjustable depth of focal region. The depth of this can vary from 2 to 30 cm; our muscles, tendons, and joints aren’t that deep.

What to Expect During a Shockwave Therapy Session?

Initial Assessment:

Shockwave therapy is a noninvasive treatment that is simple to administer. First, the therapist will analyze and locate the area to be treated with their hands.

Application of Gel:

The treatment region is then covered with gel. The gel improves the sound waves’ ability to reach the affected location.

Delivery of Shockwaves:

The third and last procedure involves applying the shockwave therapy equipment, which is a portable probe, to the skin over the wounded body area. The button is pressed to produce sound waves.

Who Can Benefit from Shockwave Therapy?

Chronic pain patients who have been in pain for a long time due to conditions such as tendinopathy, bursitis, or ligament injuries.
Athletes who have suffered from repetitive stress injuries such as rotator cuff tears, Achilles tendinitis, or hamstring strains.
Shockwave therapy may help those suffering from joint injuries like osteoarthritis in their knees, hips, or shoulders.
Patients who did not react to other treatments such as physical therapy or medication, have failed to offer enough pain relief, shockwave therapy may be an alternative.

How Effective is Shockwave Therapy?

Shockwave therapy may not show results right away, but as the wounded tissues heal, the benefits should become more noticeable over time.
Shockwave treatment is frequently combined with other treatments, including platelet-rich plasma injections and physical therapy. An expert in injury prevention may work with athletes who have had sports-related injuries to assess their movement patterns, assist them in strengthening themselves, and modify their technique to make them less likely to re-injure.

Shockwave Therapy for Sports Injuries

Shockwave therapy, commonly known as Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy (ESWT), is a non-invasive treatment for sports injuries. It can be used to treat chronic injuries, soft tissue injuries, and specific bone disorders.
How it works:- According to research, pressure waves from ESWT can impart mechanical stress to bodily tissues, supporting healing by boosting blood flow and metabolism. Increased blood flow can be especially advantageous in tendons, which do not receive adequate blood supply and recover slowly. Shockwaves can imitate the forces that occur during trauma, promoting tissue and bone regrowth and healing.

Is Shockwave Therapy Safe?

Although shockwave therapy complications are extremely uncommon, it is crucial that a doctor evaluate the patient’s injury and health before starting treatment. Shockwave treatment may cause the remaining tissue to tear if a tendon or ligament is nearly completely ripped. Shockwave treatment may result in a stress fracture if a patient has osteoporosis or a markedly low bone density.

Shockwave therapy is generally not painful; however, most patients do report some discomfort. Part of the discomfort is determined by the individual, the nature of the injury, and whether the injured tissues are near a bone. (In general, procedures that are administered nearer a bone cause higher discomfort.) In order to alleviate the discomfort, the clinician will apply a topical gel to the skin. The soreness usually fades as soon as the therapy is finished.

Why Choose Dr. Geetanjali Physiotherapist for Shockwave Therapy in Paschim Vihar?

Our professional therapists use a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to rehabilitation. At Dr. Geetanjali, we believe that everyone should have access to the best treatment possible.
Shockwave therapy might be uncomfortable for some people, but most people can handle it well. Based on each patient’s unique pain limits, we tailor the course of treatment. Throughout the course of treatment, Dr. Geetanjali will continue to go over crucial injury management techniques like activity moderation and exercise therapy. Wanted to know more about this therapy; you can contact us for a 1-on-1 session.

Conclusion

Although shockwave therapy can be very effective in reducing pain and promoting healing, there are some key areas to discuss with your physical therapist, such as any underlying flexibility or strength issues around the joint or muscle, as well as the cause of the injury (for example, overloading, training habits, or poor biomechanics). Identifying and addressing these concerns will help in the prevention of a recurring injury.