Shockwave Therapy Units, Radial Pressure Wave Therapy Units , & Deep Oscillation Machines

Shock wave therapy (SWT) is a non-invasive, surgical alternative for treating various soft tissue injuries to relieve pain, restore mobility, and promote healing. This multi-disciplinary therapy is a popular treatment option in sports medicine, orthopedics, physiotherapy, urology, and veterinary medicine. SWT involves sending acoustic waves to the injured area, transferring energy that stimulates regeneration and cellular repair of the patients’ bones, tendons, and surrounding soft tissue. The waves are a product of the kinetic energy from a projectile set into action by compressed air. The energy travels to the end of the applicator, where a transmitter transforms it into waves that permeate the damaged tissue. SWT is a popular treatment for athletes and active people who want to return to their physical activities as soon as possible.

Shockwave therapy is primarily a viable treatment option for patients suffering from chronic tendinopathy that hasn’t responded to other treatments. Chronic tendinopathy or tendinosis causes local pain and pathological degrading of the tendon. Primarily, medical professionals use SWT for various chronic musculoskeletal conditions, including Achilles tendinopathy, plantar fasciitis, tennis elbow, retrocalcaneal bursitis, patellar tendinosis (jumper’s knee), Morton’s Neuroma, and chronic stress fractures.

Depending on compliance and treatment details, SWT has an effectiveness rating between 60% to 80%. In most cases, doctors choose SWT after all the traditional non-operative treatments have failed. The next options after SWT are more invasive treatments like experimental medicine, surgery, and needle tenotomy. Although advanced treatments have high success rates, they are expensive and require more recovery time. Therefore, SWT therapy provides a viable alternative option.

Although it is a non-invasive, non-surgical procedure, shockwave therapy can cause mild discomfort to extreme pain, depending on the sensitivity in the damaged area. The pain can even continue after the treatment. If you feel significant pain, the SWT specialist may lessen or alleviate it by adjusting the shockwave device.

Qualified medical professionals usually disqualify patients who may suffer damage from the treatment. But as a rule, shockwave therapy can be harmful to people who have a blood clotting disorder, nerve problems, pregnancy, bone cancer, infection in the treatment area, metal pins, received steroid injections, or taken non-steroidal anti-inflammatory painkillers (NSAIDs). In addition, there is a slight risk of the shockwaves getting too close to an open surgical wound. This mistake could lead to further damage to the injury and bleeding.

There are two types of SWT therapies: high energy and low energy. High energy SWT (true shockwaves) are short-duration waves that break the sound barrier. Since the high-energy shockwaves accelerate directly through the damaged tissue, doctors use SWT to increase microscopic circulation, dissolve calcific deposits, stimulate new bone production, promote tissue connectivity, and neutralize nerve pain activity. On the other hand, lower energy shockwaves or radial pressure wave therapy travel much slower for more prolonged and less intense exposure. This characteristic is why many clinics use radial shockwaves for physical therapy. Most medical clinics offer high-energy and low-energy SWT because both treatments provide flexible therapy options for patients with varying health and injury conditions.

Deep Oscillation Therapy is a non-invasive means of assisting in reducing swelling, inflammation, and bruising. If applied early, it can immediately reduce swelling in soft tissue areas. It benefits conditions like low back pain, strained muscles, hip pain, sciatica, and whiplash. This treatment requires a doctor to create a high-to- low-frequency electrostatic field in the space between the handheld applicator and the patient’s tissue. The electrostatic field makes the patient’s tissue expand and contract at a frequency of 5 to 250 times per second. The energy field sinks to an 8 cm depth in the patient’s tissue layers, almost 6 cm deeper than deep tissue ultrasound.