Shock Wave Therapy For Back Pain
Shock wave therapy is a non-invasive technique that has been scientifically proven to be successful at relieving pain and helping patients return to normal activities. It can be used for treating soft tissue (muscle, tendons and ligaments), joints and bone conditions with the potential to speed healing and mobility recovery.
Shock waves penetrate the skin, carrying energy to muscles, tendons or joints that require treatment. This type of pain relief therapy has become popular among sports medicine doctors, pain management specialists and other healthcare providers due to its effectiveness and safety without the use of medications.
Faster healing for your body’s tendons, bones and muscles by increasing blood flow to the area, encouraging rapid regeneration and improving tissue metabolism. Furthermore, trigger points can be removed that cause back, neck and shoulder pain by improving circulation to these sensitive spots.
Shock wave therapy for lower back pain is an effective alternative to physical therapy and often recommended for those with long-term back problems as it utilizes the body’s natural healing response. Many patients report great success with shock wave therapy in relieving their discomfort and increasing mobility.
Low energy shock waves are used for pain management and to break up calcifications that may cause microtears or traumatize tendons, leading to discomfort. On the other hand, high energy shock waves increase regional blood flow and encourage capillary growth.
ESWT is the treatment of choice for chronic calcific tendonitis and has been approved by the FDA in the US, Canada and Australia. Before treating a calcific tendon injury with extracorporeal shock wave therapy there are some things to consider such as whether to apply it directly onto the affected area, whether local anesthesia is needed and how often.
Radial shock wave therapy (RSWT) is an extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) that employs radially expanding shock waves to treat larger areas. This ESWT type can be more versatile, allowing it to target multiple treatment sites simultaneously.
In this study, 30 participants with lateral elbow pain (tennis elbow, lateral epicondylitis) were divided into two groups and treated with radial shock wave therapy and home training for six weeks. The treatments were conducted using the Swiss DolorClast device from Electro Medical Systems in Nyon and an EvoBlue handpiece.
Results revealed that a significantly higher percentage of participants in the shock wave group experienced pain reduction compared to those in the control group. They also experienced greater improvements to pain and function at one month and three months following completion of treatment program.
Researchers found that radial shock wave therapy had a greater effect on cognitive functioning compared to home training and corticosteroid injection at both one month and 15 months, suggesting it may be an effective alternative to other treatment approaches such as corticosteroid injection.
