What is shockwave?

Extracorporeal shockwave therapy is a highly effective non-invasive, office-based treatment method cleared by the FDA used to treat a broad range of musculoskeletal conditions. Shockwave uses pressure waves that help to reduce pain and stimulate tissue healing and repair.

What conditions can be treated by shockwave?

Shockwave can effectively treat musculoskeletal conditions involving tendons, muscles, bones, and joints. This includes plantar fasciitis, tendinopathy (including Achilles, patella, hamstring, elbow, and shoulder), bone injuries (including stress fractures and chronic fractures), and targeting injuries to joints.

What are the advantages of shockwave?

Shockwave therapy for musculoskeletal conditions is performed as an outpatient procedure. The procedure is non-invasive and has good safety for use, with few reported complications in published research. The treatment is evidence-based with studies showing success in many commonly treated conditions.  Our providers have extensive experience in using shockwave to successfully treat conditions in patients and use best practices guided by science and research to help optimize results.

What is the difference between radial and focused shockwave?

Focused shockwave has the capacity to generate shockwave with high amplitude using electromagnetic technology. Focused shockwave may generate higher energy than radial shockwave and is commonly used to treat conditions of bone and joint. Focused shockwave may also be combined with radial shockwave to treat conditions of tendon and fascia.

Radial shockwave uses a pneumatic air pressurized device that creates a pressure wave to help treat superficial structures. The pressure wave generated from extracorporeal pulse activation technology (EPAT) may be used as initial treatment of musculoskeletal conditions of fascia and tendon or offered in combination with focused shockwave.

Your physician will help you decide whether shockwave is recommended for your condition depending on clinical history and goals of treatment. We offer both radial and focused shockwave.

Does the treatment hurt?

Pain is commonly experienced during the treatment and is used to guide treatment. The goal is to keep pain level tolerable during treatment which is targeting only at injured tissue.

How many treatments will I need?

The number of sessions depends on the condition treated and ranges from 3-6 total sessions. Each session lasts 10-20 minutes. Pain relief may be experiences after initial treatment, but the full healing effects may take up to 12 weeks from initiating shockwave.

How often will I need the treatment?

The initial treatment is typically performed once per week.

After receiving 3-4 sessions, you will be recommended to schedule a follow-up visit with your doctor in 6-8 weeks to assess initial response to treatment. Depending on your progress, additional treatments may be advised to optimize treatment response.

Research indicates that most patients will see their functional improvement optimized with 6 sessions. While shockwave helps most patients, some patients may not experience pain relief or have functional limitations after treatment. Therefore, your physician may recommend you consider alternative treatments if you do not reach your treatment goals after 6 sessions.

Will I feel any pain after the treatment?

After the treatment, you may experience temporary soreness, tenderness, or swelling for a few days following the procedure due to shockwave stimulating an inflammatory response. The initial inflammatory response is the body healing itself naturally so it is recommended to avoid use of NSAIDs (i.e. Advil, Aleeve, Ibuprofen, etc…) or oral steroids during treatment cycles. Tylenol and ice can be used for pain relief.

Are there any restrictions after the treatment?

Your physician will provide information on activities you should avoid. In the treatment of soft tissue injuries, most activities may be resumed after 48 hours. In the treatment of bone injuries, activity restrictions may be longer.

What activities can I do to help the treatment?

The goal of shockwave therapy is to help reduce pain and restore function. Physical therapy and home exercise program are recommended to stimulate proper mechanical loading that has an additive effect to shockwave.

Return to sport participation and physical exercise is guided by your physician. The goal of shockwave is to initiate tissue healing, reinforce better movement through physical therapy, and gradually return to sport and exercise with a goal to restore long-term function.

Who performs the treatment?

At our practice, the physician will perform shockwave treatments.