Shockwave Therapy

DolorClast® Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) uses acoustic pulses to treat certain musculoskeletal disorders. It is a well-studied and commonly used treatment modality for a variety of musculoskeletal conditions. Radial Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy (rESWT) is used successfully for:

• Calcific Tendontitis
  
• Subacromial Pain Syndrome 
  
• Golfer’s elbow
  
• Tennis elbow
  
• Trigger Points 
  
• Upper back pain 
  
• Lower back pain 
  
• Pseudoradicular lower back pain 
  
• Greater trochanteric pain syndrome 
  
• Knee osteoarthritis 
  
• Patella tendinopathy 
  
• Osgood Schlatter disease 
  
• Medial tibial stress syndrome 
  
• Achilles tendinopathy
  
• Plantar fasciitis  
  
  

How does DolorClast® Shockwave help in treat tendonopathies and soft tissue pain ? 

Compressed air accelerates a projectile which strikes a fixed applicator, which is placed over the painful area. With the use of gel as a coupling agent, this kinetic energy is converted into a shock wave delivered to the target tissue through the skin.

It is clinically proven that these pressure waves, when applied to injured tissues, stimulate the following metabolic reactions:

1. Reduction of pain felt by nerve fibers
   
2. Increase of blood circulation in surrounding soft tissues
   
3. Beginning of healing process triggered by stem cell activation

This helps in speeding up the recovery process and in better clinical outcomes when combined with a specifically designed rehabilitation program. 

What does the treatment process look like? 

Once it is established that DolorClast® ShockWave is a good treatment option for you, a baseline examination will be performed to quantify pain and movement before the first treatment session. These measurements will then be compared with your post-treatment measurements once your treatments are complete. 

DolorClast® ShockWave has a cumulative treatment effect and is recommended once a week for a period of 3-5 weeks depending on the underlying condition. Each session usually takes around 15 minutes to complete. 

Even though DolorClast® ShockWave works well as a stand alone treatment, for the best clinical outcomes, it is recommended that you undergo a specific rehabilitation program in combination with your Shock Wave therapy. This is because many of the conditions treated by ESWT resulted from chronic underlying postural or biomechanical disturbance to begin with. Combining the two speeds up and increases overall functional recovery. 

Is DolorClast® ShockWave therapy safe and are there any contraindications to shockwave therapy? 

Extracorporeal shock wave therapy is an effective, safe and non-invasive treatment option for patients with musculoskeletal disorders

It does not involve any medications or injections and is worth emphasising that radial shock waves therapy can be used as an alternative to more invasive treatments such as cortisone injections or orthopaedic surgery. It can also be used as an alternative to pain management using medications with potentially severe side effects.

It is however contraindicated in use in patients with the following: 

• Pregnancy 
  
• Blood clotting disorders
  
• Patients on oral anticoagulants
  
• Treatment of tissues with local tumours or infections 
  
• Patients treated with a recent cortisone injection (6-weeks)   
  

To find out if Shockwave therapy is something that could help you please book an initial consultation with one of our physiotherapists or call the clinic to find out how we can help you with shockwave therapy.

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