New Treatment Protocol: Shockwave Therapy
Dr. Christopher Aysom, Principal Clinician
BChiroSc, MChiro (Chiropractor)
I am proud to present a cutting edge treatment protocol that has been integrated into our practice!
Some of you may have heard of, or experienced, Shockwave Therapy previously. But before we dive into the exciting benefits of this treatment approach, it’s important to remember the guiding principles that set the foundation for any treatment.
As a practitioner, I am in a constant pursuit of clinical excellence and any treatment must be underpinned by a thorough diagnosis. It’s my goal for Apex Soft Tissue & Spine to be recognised as a provider that is detail-oriented and thorough in diagnosing your condition.
Simply put, I want to discover the root cause of your problem and then provide the best treatment to get you the best outcome.
Until now, the majority of our manual treatment has been via hands-on active techniques, or with the use of an instrument. We use these techniques to break down adhesion and improve the health of the tissues, restoring range of motion so that healing can occur through the natural course of time.
As we know, adhesion is the ‘glue’ that builds up in tissues over time, causing tightness, weakness and poor range of motion. When this goes on for long enough it can lead to chronic pain due to trigger points, nerve entrapment, inflammation and joint degeneration.
However some important structures of the body are deep and difficult to treat directly. This is where shockwave can help. Not only can we access structures that have been near impossible to treat with our hands, but shockwave also does a great job of removing adhesion, which is often quicker and more comfortable than many of the traditional techniques.
Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy (ESWT)
Shockwave therapy is not a new technology, having been utilised for treatment of musculoskeletal conditions since the early 2000’s and even earlier within other areas of medicine. It has been commonly used in treatment of chronic injuries such as tennis elbow, golfer’s elbow, plantar fasciitis and heel spurs.
Shockwaves are acoustic sound waves, applied to tissues via a handheld transmitter. The acoustic pulses are capable of transmitting energy into tissues with a curative effect; breaking down adhesion, improving blood circulation, increasing stem cell activity and decreasing pain.
Apex Soft Tissue & Spine – The Difference
While the technology is not new, our implementation is cutting edge. To my knowledge, our practice is one only a few in Australia that are using Shockwave therapy as a treatment protocol, based on the Integrative Diagnosis principles that underpin our clinical practice. There are currently few practitioners around the world (approx. 25) that have been trained to use Shockwave as we are. I am proud to be able to bring this treatment approach to Apex Soft Tissue & Spine, in service of the local community.
The Benefits
1 – Shockwave can reduce adhesion and restore range of motion, very efficiently!
2 – Shockwave can reduce chronic inflammation
3 – Shockwave can facilitate stem cell activity
4 – Shockwave can improve blood circulation
There is emerging research to show that by stimulating stem cell activity, Shockwave has the ability to regenerate certain tissues, such as cartilage that gets worn away with Osteoarthritis and intervertebral discs of the spine. We’ve collated some of the research here if you are interested in some technical reading.
This advancement in regenerative medicine is a game changer!
Shockwave therapy is considered very safe for most people, but there are some instances where we should not apply it.
- Pregnancy
- Cancer, active tumour disease
- Following corticosteroid or anabolic steroid use
- Patients with blood clotting disorder or using blood thinning medication
- Patients with a pacemaker fitted
Further Reading
Below is a link to the next article in this series, which is a deeper dive into how Shockwave works to treat chronic pain.
https://apexsofttissue.com.au/shockwave-therapy-deep-dive/
If you, or anyone that you know is suffering with chronic pain that won’t go away despite everything you’ve tried so far, please consider scheduling an Initial Consultation (link below on this page).
