Physiotherapy & Sports Injury Clinic
Shockwave Therapy
What is Treated with Shockwave?
What Is Shockwave Therapy?
Shockwaves are sound impulses with a lot of energy, which transfer as waves at depth. The energy released in the treatment area improves the metabolism and blood circulation, thereby stimulating the body’s own repair mechanism.
Extracorporeal shockwave therapy is used to treat a growing number of tendon, joint and muscle conditions. These include tennis elbow, where results in double blind studies are reported as excellent; chronic tendinitis of the knee and shoulder rotator cuff pain, achilles tendinitis, hamstring tendinitis and plantar fasciitis have also been treated successfully.
The above conditions are often difficult to treat using other methods and can become chronic. With ESWT patients report reduced pain and faster healing, without significant adverse side effects.
Shock waves stimulate angiogenesis (new blood vessels) and neurogenesis (new nerve cells). The exact physiological mechanisms at this stage are poorly understood, but it appears that the cells undergo microtrauma which promotes the inflammatory and catabolic processes that are associated with removing damaged matrix constituents and stimulating wound healing mechanisms.
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Achilles tendinopathy
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Patellar tendonipathy
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Tennis and Golfers elbow (medial and lateral epicondylalgia)
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Biceps tendinopathy
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Supraspinatus or Rotator Cuff Tendonitis
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Trochanteric Bursitis
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Heel Spurs
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Calcific Tendonitis
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Shoulder Impingement
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Muscle tears
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Trigger Points
​How Long Are The Treatments?
Shockwave Therapy treatments are short only lasting a few minutes (2-3 mins typically). This is used together with a broader treatment approach to try address causative and preventative measurements.
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Does Shockwave Therapy Hurt?
The initial few seconds can be a little uncomfortable but you get used to this quite quickly.
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After The Treatment
Sometimes after the treatment you may develop some bruising or tenderness around the treated area. This depends on the intensity used and body site treated.
This usually settles within a few days.
As Shockwave Therapy works on the stimulation of a local inflammatory response to "re-start" the healing process, we advise against taking anti inflammatory medications such as aspirin, ibuprofen for 48hours post treatment. If you feel you need to alleviate post treatment soreness we advise paracetamol.
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How many treatments will I need?
Most complaints will see results after 1-2 treatments. We typically advise a course of 4 treatment sessions 1 week apart. this is usually enough to settle most issues however this obviously depends on the area being treated, severity of the condition and in more chronic complaints a few more treatments may be needed.
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Who should Avoid
Shockwave Therapy?
Contraindications:
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Patients with vascular diseases present in or near the treatment area
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Local infections in the treatment area
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Treatment around malignant or benign tumours
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Over implanted electronic devices such as pacemakers, analgesic pumps, etc.
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Areas, in which mechanical energy in the form of vibrations may lead to tissue damage such as metal implants after a fracture
In general we advise against treatment
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If you Have Blood Clotting Disorder or are taking blood thinning medication (please advise us on any medication you are taking and we can advise if it is safe to proceed with treatment)
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Pregnancy (please advise us if you are pregnant)
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neurological diseases resulting in impairment of the vasomotor function in the treatment area
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Children, particularly around the epiphyseal plates
Our Equipment
Shockwave Therapy Machines represent a substantial investment for any clinic and therefore you will find only a few clinics offering such treatments. As with any technology, cheaper variants always enter the market. At Physiologic.ie all our Equipment is made by Enraf-Nonius.
Enraf-Nonius is a Dutch Company long established as the benchmark for quality medical technology trusted in Hospitals, Universities and by reputable Clinicians Worldwide.
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