is usual for any injuries or damages to your body to be associated with pain. This pain indicates to your brain that something is wrong with that part of your body. However, this pain may go on for an extended period, making it chronic. When pain is chronic, your body does not recognize injury to that area anymore, discouraging the healing process from carrying on. Scottsdale shockwave therapy is used to help these areas of the body heal as naturally as possible. More about this therapy and what it involves is discussed in detail below.
What is Shockwave Therapy?
Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy is a treatment method applied to multiple musculoskeletal issues, mainly chronic problems involving medium to large tendons and their bone insertions, including:
- Achilles Tendinopathy
- Plantar Fasciitis
- Lateral epicondylosis
- Retrocalcaneal bursitis
- Calcific tendonitis
- Medial epicondylosis
- Morton’s neuroma
- Patellar Tendinosis
- Chronic stress
SWT therapy triggers the body’s natural healing process. It directly affects local nerve endings, causing a decrease in pain levels. Differentiating between high and low-energy SWTs can help you determine the most suitable technique.
High energy shockwaves are short-duration pulses of energy that move past the sound barrier causing a shockwave. This high-energy SWT technology enables the focusing of the shockwave directly on the involved tissues causing several effects like:
- Tension and mechanical pressure on the tissue increase the cell membrane’s permeability, thus adding microscopic circulation and associated metabolism in the treated site. This encourages healing and can cause calcific substances to be dissolved.
- Tiny empty cavities called cavitation bubbles are formed by the pressure front behind them. These bubbles collapse, causing a force with a mechanical impact on the affected tissue. The force assists in disintegrating calcific deposits found inside the tissue being treated.
- Shockwaves trigger osteoblast cell formation that produces new bones and heals injured ones
- Shockwaves trigger fibroblast cell production that helps in the healing of connective tissues like tendons
- These waves reduce pain in two ways. A gate-control mechanism in which local nerves are triggered, changing how you feel the pain causing long-term reduction.
Hyperstimulation anesthesia involves overwhelming local nerve endings with multiple stimuli reducing their activity and causing short-term pain relief.
There are multiple methods of generating high-energy shock waves. These different types of SWT devices:
- Electromagnetic shockwave
- A piezoelectric shockwave is a low-energy shockwave formed by radial pressure waves. This is different from true shock wave technology in that it is slower, longer, and less intense. Its waves also move at a reduced speed without breaking the sound barrier; thus, true shockwaves are not formed. Its radial pressure waves move away from the source, unlike high-energy SWTs that converge on a specific point. This causes less energy to fall on the tissue compared to the high-energy SWT.
Low energy shock wave devices have a reduced cost making many patients assume they have gotten true shockwave therapy. This is typical misinformation by patients and uninformed health professionals as there are differences in the effectiveness of low-energy SWTs compared to high-energy SWTs. For questions concerning shockwave therapy, visit the website, or call our offices in Scottsdale, AZ.
