SHOCKWAVE THERAPY – A REALISTIC ALTERNATIVE TO SURGERY
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SHOCKWAVE THERAPY
Shockwave therapy as a medical application was originally developed as a means for pulverizing kidney stones. Since 1989, it has also been employed with considerable success at university clinics to treat non- or poorly healing bone fractures.
Since 1991, Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy (ESWT) has been employed as an alternative to surgery in treating calcified shoulders and other aches and pains of the bones and tendons.
The current range of applications for orthopaedic conditions includes:
- Calcified Shoulder
- Shoulder joint aches and pains without calcium deposits
- Tennis or Golfer’s elbow
- Plantar fasciitis and Heel spurs
- Inflammation of the Achilles or patella tendon
- Pseudarthrosis
SHOCKWAVE THERAPY WORKS
The therapy equipment generates high-energy shockwaves, which are transmitted to the body through a plastic membrane. The shockwave firstly will pass through the skin and the layers of tissue underneath. They only become effective in the area at which the doctor has set the penetration depth.
The desired effects are:
- Dispersing of calcium deposits
- Stimulation of the healing mechanisms of the body (e.g. in the case of tennis elbow)
- Stimulation of bone growth (in the case of pseudarthrosis)
THE COURSE OF TREATMENT
Shockwave therapy is carried out on an outpatient basis and is mostly administered under local anaesthetic. Using our shockwave equipment, treatment generally involves one or a course of several sessions carried out at intervals of several weeks.
Depending on the condition to be treated, your physician will decide the number and strength of the shockwave to be administered. The duration of the treatment at each session is 10 to 20 minutes or, is the case of pseudarthosis, up to one hour.
RESULT OF THE SHOCKWAVE THERAPY
The therapy described here has been employed successfully in over 70% of cases. Recovery from the aches and pains being treated generally starts to occur immediately or soon after treatment. The therapy sessions may be repeated in individual cases to ensure that the treatment continues to be successful.
