What Is Shockwave Therapy?

Extracorporeal Shockwave therapy is a treatment which is being used to treat many muscle, joint and bone conditions. Extracorporeal simple means ‘outside of the body’ as this is a non-invasive treatment which has been shown to be extremely safe and effective.
It is commonly used to treat achilles tendonitis, lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow), plantar fasciitis and heel spurs, patellar tendonitis, shoulder rotator cuff pain, hamstring tendonitis, adductor tendonitis and myofascial trigger points.
Shockwave therapy can reduce healing times and pain in the above condiitons. It has been shown also to be very successful in chronic conditions (longer than 6 months duration) and sometimes when other treatment options have failed.
How Does Shockwave Therapy Work?
The machine creates high pressure acoustic (sound) waves which interact with the tissues to cause the medical effects of the therapy.
Shockwave works by causing microtrauma within the targeted tissue. This in turn promotes the inflammation process which is the first stage of healing. The bodies natural healing chemicals and components rush to the area and promote growth of new blood vessels (angiogensis) and new nerve cells (neurogensis). Normal healing resumes and the tissue begins to behave normally becoming pain free and mobile.