What Is Shockwave Therapy?
Despite the sort of alarming name, shockwave therapy (SWT) is a non-invasive treatment that stimulates your body’s natural healing process. It’s a form of regenerative medicine where the healthcare provider holds a shockwave device next to your skin in the area where you are feeling pain.
Also known as extracorporeal shockwave therapy, SWT was originally used to break up kidney stones. Doctors later discovered the treatment is also suitable for promoting healing of inflamed and damaged tissue.
How Shockwave Therapy Works
High-energy and low-energy shockwave treatments send pulses of energy, or shockwaves, to the injured area. The acoustic waves generated by the Shockwave trigger biological effects which lead to faster and long-term healing and regeneration of injured tissue. The soft tissues of your body begin to form scar tissue when an injury occurs. Shockwave therapy will agitate the body’s tissues, bringing more blood circulation to the area and breaking up adhesions.
You may feel some discomfort during treatment, but most people would not describe SWT as painful. If your injury is closer to the bone, you may feel more discomfort. If the tissue being treated is greatly inflamed, treatment will be more uncomfortable, but the discomfort will lessen as the inflammation goes down.
Shockwave Therapy as Part of an Overall Plan for Healing
Shockwave therapy is often teamed with physical therapy and platelet-rich plasma injections to target your pain and boost healing. If your pain is due to a sports injury, your athletic director, sports trainer, chiropractor, or physical therapist may work with you to improve your form, and thus prevent re-injury.
SWT is a non-surgical treatment that can help soft tissues regenerate, and it is FDA-approved as a treatment for plantar fasciitis and lateral tennis elbow. Studies show that it’s a safe and effective treatment for that significantly reduces the pain associated with tendinopathy. As a result, it increases a patient’s functionality and quality of life.
Shock Wave Therapy at Cima Health
Here at Cima Health in Palm Beach Gardens, we evaluate each of our clients individually to see how shockwave therapy might benefit you. We might recommend monthly, weekly, or multiple sessions a week, depending on your circumstances. Each session is only about 3 minutes long, so it’s easy to fit into your schedule.
Many of our patients have found shockwave therapy helps them with:
- Chronic pain
- Chronic inflammation
- Elbow pain
- Hip pain
- Shoulder pain
- Knee pain
- Foot pain
- Tendinopathy
- Ligament injuries
- Bone spurs
- Trigger points
- Collagen production
If you’re a suitable candidate for shockwave therapy, one of our chiropractors or a physical therapy team members will administer the treatment.
