Shockwave Therapy

Getting you out of pain and keeping you there.

Shockwave Therapy is a non-invasive, out-patient alternative to surgery for those suffering from many joint and tendon disorders. ESWT (Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy) sends acoustic shock waves into bone or soft tissue, in effect reinjuring the area on a cellular level and breaking up the scarring that has penetrated tendons and ligaments. The controlled reinjuring of tissue allows the body to regenerate blood vessels and bone cells. The resulting revascularization leads to faster healing and often a return to pre-injury activity levels.

Physical therapy of the knee and the foot using shock wave therapy.

How Does it Work?

Shockwave Therapy is particularly good at pain management and elimination. The therapy is effective for three reasons: The shock waves stimulate a metabolic reaction in the affected tissue, causing stress fibers to develop and/or change in their permeability: they generate cavitation bubbles that break down calcific deposits; and they induce an analgesic reaction mechanism, which blocks pain messages.

Who Can Benefit From Shochwave Therapy?

Everyone with soft tissue injuries can benefit, especially athletes. Shockwave Therapy provides a safe, non-surgical alternative for those suffering from hip pointers, rotator cuff tendonopathy, tennis elbow, patellar and Achilles tendinopathies and plantar fasciitis. These ailments are common to the professional athlete and are too often career ending.

What Are the Benefits of Shochwave Therapy?

Treatments success rate equal to or greater than surgery.

Treatment & minimal procedure time resulting in increase patient compliance & cost effectiveness.

The use of Shockwave Therapy bridges the gap between non-operative and operative treatment.

Typically, patients feel less pain after treatment, and are able to resume normal physical activities.

Conditions Treated With Shockwave Therapy:

Common Conditions

Tennis Elbow

Jumper’s Knee

Plantar Fasciitis

Achilles Tendinopathy

Scar Tissue

Stress Fractures

Calcific Rotator Cuff Tendinitis

Bursitis

Trigger Point Therapy

Non Healing ulcers

Post-Operative Complications

Extended recovery period

Nerve Damage

Rupture

Permanent scarring

Further Information and Research

Success Rates

91% improvement for Calcific Tendinitis (Journal of American Medical Association 2003)

77% improvement for Tennis Elbow ( The Journal of Orthopedics’ 2005)

90% improvement for Plantar Fasciitis (Journal of Orthopedic Research 2005)

Medical Advances

Promising results in promoting the recovery of non-healing ulcers

A non invasive surgical solution that accelerates the recovery from injured tissue

Scientific Evidence

In 2007, the American Journal of Sports Medicine published two articles on the effectiveness of shockwave therapy on the treatment of Jumpers Knee (patellar tendonitis) and achilles tendonopathy with a 75 percent success rate. Moreover, Dr. Gerdesmeyer’s latest publication, and abstract, shows an 84.8 percent success rate for plantar fasciitis. The same cannot be said for other popular therapies

Many physicians believe Shockwave should be used prior to taking drugs or receiving steroid injections because it is safer. Certainly it should be considered prior to undergoing surgical treatment.

Two excellent papers were published on the success of Shockwave in the American Journal of Sports Medicine. When combined with exercise, Shockwave showed a 75 percent success rate with patellar tendonopathy and a 76 per cent success rate for the treatment of Achilles tendonopathy.

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