First off, Happy New Year to all!
Our never-ending quest to being your one-stop healthcare clinic in Alliston has led to our purchase of an Extracorpreal Shockwave Therapy machine!
Shockwave is a non-invasive way to treat many muscular, tendinous, ligamentous, and bone problems that lead to pain and loss of function. Briefly stated it uses strong energy pulses to stimulate increased blood flow and metabolism allowing regeneration of damaged tissue. A phenomenon called “micro-cavitation” occurs where “bubbles’ expand and burst creating a force that penetrates damaged tissue and stimulates cell reparation. Shockwave is especially effective in treating issues that have been unresponsive to other conservative methods.
Treatments often take about 10 minutes to perform (depending on the area being treated) and are minimally invasive (though some people can experience an uncomfortable sensation). We will be offering “shockwave therapy sessions” where shockwave will be the primary emphasis of treatment, as well as “shockwave + manual therapy sessions” where shockwave will be performed during the session, in addition to manual therapy, exercise prescription, acupuncture and other forms of treatment that you and your therapist see fit (to maximize recovery, we do recommend the “shockwave + manual therapy sessions).
Our research has found that shockwave is an effective way to treat knee pain and function in people with osteoarthritis (J Surg Res. 2013 Dec;185(2):661-60, plantar fasciitis (Foot Ankle Int. 2010 May;31(5)391-7), lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow)(Int J Orthop.2008 Oct;32(5):671-7), carpal tunnel syndrome (Eur J Phys Rehabil Med. 2015 Oct;51(5):512-8), and calcific tendonitis of the shoulder (Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2014 Sep; 472(9):2816-25) among many other common conditions such as patellar and achilles tendonitis (to name a couple).
If you are suffering from a chronic issue that has not responded to conservative methods and want to try out the new machine, give us a call today! Please stay tuned for the next big announcement from South Simcoe Physiotherapy in days to come!