‘Shockwave’ treatment - it may sound daunting or painful, but the reality is quite the opposite. We are big advocates for shockwave treatment here at South Burnett Podiatry and with good reason - shockwave has been repeatedly proven in studies to effectively speed up recovery from a range of foot and leg problems including:
- Heel pain (plantar fasciitis) - studies have shown shockwave to make significant improvements in the pain, function and quality of life of patients with heel pain, with results in as little as three weeks that continued to improve thereafter¹
- Achilles pain - shockwave is shown to significantly reduce pain and contribute to an ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ recovery of the Achilles tendon, including when the injury has been long standing.²
- Knee pain - shockwave has been effective in reducing pain and improving the physical function for those with knee osteoarthritis³ and a range of knee tendinopathies⁴
- Shin pain - using shockwave alongside an exercise program showed a much faster recovery from shin splints than the exercise program alone⁵
- Hip pain - shockwave is found as an effective treatment for greater trochanteric pain syndrome⁶
… as well as other tendon pain and injuries, trigger points, calcifications and much more.
Been Told You Need Surgery?
One of our favourite things about shockwave is its natural approach to healing in repair that has helped people avoid the need for surgery. By natural, we mean have a non-invasive approach that doesn’t require injections, medications or breaking the skin in any way. Instead, shockwave works by:
- Reducing pain - by reducing the concentration of a neurotransmitter called substance P involved in feeling pain
- Promoting new blood vessels to form - blood flow carries oxygen and nutrients, so the better the blood flow to an area from the stimulation of new capillaries, the better for the repair process
- Stimulating collagen production - collagen is an essential component of repairing damaged cells and keeping muscles healthy and functioning properly, so helping produce more helps to optimise the repair process
- Helping reset the inflammation cycle and instead kickstart the body’s normal healing process
- Helping release trigger points in the muscles which a sensitive areas of tight muscle fibres, and are a primary cause of muscle pain and tightness
- Helping break up calcifications in the tendon fibres which may have previous built up from injury that may otherwise be contributing to pain
This means that with the effects of shockwave stimulating healing and repair, in some cases, patients are able to avoid surgery and all that surgery carries, including a significant downtime after the procedure, the effects on the muscles and tissues after surgery and limited movement, the risk of infection after surgery and more.
Shockwave For Heel Pain
With heel pain being one of the most common conditions that we see and treat, it is worth mentioning the efficacy of shockwave on heel pain specifically. Shockwave has proven its effectiveness with heel pain with a range of studies showing excellent results.
When it comes to Achilles pain, it has shown to reduce pain “significantly” (which is a great outcome from a study) and contribute to an excellent or good recovery⁷. These results were found in longstanding (chronic) Achilles tendinopathy too, so even if you’ve been struggling on and off for years with little success, we recommend trying shockwave.
Similarly, studies have shown that shockwave is effective for plantar fasciitis, taking into consideration a person’s pain, function and quality of life⁸ - exactly what our patients are concerned with.
Try Shockwave First
If you’d like a second opinion about your surgery and want to see if shockwave could be right for you, we’d love to help. Our podiatrists will perform a detailed assessment to see if shockwave could be a good solution for you - after all, the only thing you have to lose is a potential surgery!
Book your appointment by giving our friendly team a call on (07) 4162 7633.
¹ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7006537/
² https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18006678/
³ https://academic.oup.com/painmedicine/article/21/4/822/5593618
⁴ https://bmcmusculoskeletdisord.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12891-018-2204-6
⁵ https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/46/4/253.long
⁶ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19439756/