Ultrasound Therapy For Back Pain
Ultrasound therapy for back pain is a treatment that utilizes sound waves to relieve and reduce pain, as well as promote healing in muscles and joints. It often works in combination with other forms of physical therapy like heat, electrical stimulation or ice.
Ultrasound therapy’s primary purpose is to reduce pain and promote healing, although it may not be sufficient in all cases. Furthermore, ultrasound therapy should not be applied directly on sensitive areas such as the spine, eyes, pacemakers or other devices due to potential safety concerns.
Placing a wand with vibrating crystals against the patient’s skin causes sound waves to enter through their skin, causing vibrations in local tissues. These vibrations cause the tissue to warm up, thus decreasing inflammation.
It is essential to remember that even though ultrasound waves are typically not felt, they can still heat tissues nearby. This is why pulsed wands should be used; this means the sound waves are interrupted intermittently to avoid overheating and creating additional discomfort.
For instance, if a patient has recently suffered an injury with acute inflammation, their physical therapist can set the ultrasound to pulse, increasing blood flow to the injured area to help with pain. This also serves to prevent infection from arising and speed up healing time for the body.
Furthermore, ultrasound can be used to treat a variety of health problems like kidney stones, bone cancer and cysts. The shockwaves produced by ultrasound break down the fluids present in these conditions to make them easier to remove.
However, ultrasound can be dangerous if the person receiving it is extremely thin or elderly. Some have reported internal bleeding and scarring after an ultrasound procedure, so caution should be exercised when using it near spines, eyes, implants or areas with active infections.
Therefore, doctors recommend that individuals with this condition consult a physician for diagnosis prior to beginning ultrasound therapy. Doing so will guarantee patients receive the appropriate treatment tailored towards their individual needs and risks.
Therapeutic ultrasound is a type of non-invasive ultrasound delivered through a handheld device. It transmits sound waves (ultrasound) to the body with a round head transducer probe that emits energy between 0.8 and 3.0 MHz, reaching deep muscle and joint tissues.
Ultrasound therapy can be delivered as either continuous or pulsed mode. Pulsed ultrasound lasts only a few minutes before ceasing, while continuous treatments last longer and have higher sound intensity but lower amplitude density.
Ultrasound therapy’s effectiveness for treating musculoskeletal disorders has yet to be thoroughly established. A number of systematic reviews have concluded that there is insufficient evidence to back its use for rheumatic disorders, shoulder issues and myofascial pain.
This review included seven randomised controlled trials that evaluated therapeutic ultrasound against exercise, spinal manipulation or a placebo treatment. All seven were conducted on adults suffering from chronic “non-specific back pain” (back pain without an identifiable cause that lasts more than 12 weeks). The comparison interventions were either physical exercise, spinal manipulation or a placebo treatment.