Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy, (or ESWT), is a new technology using shockwaves to treat chronic, painful conditions of the musculoskeletal system. A shockwave is an intense, but very short energy wave traveling faster than the speed of sound. The word "Extra-corporeal" means "outside the body" and refers to the fact that the shockwaves are generated outside the body.
What is Shockwave Biosurgery?
Extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) is sometimes alternatively known as shockwave biosurgery, though ESWT isn't surgery as the word is usually defined or understood in North America.
What is the origin of ESWT?
The basic science behind ESWT is analogous to lithotripsy, the technology that uses acoustic shockwaves to break up kidney stones without surgery. The technique of using shockwaves to break up kidney stones has been around for a nearly a quarter century now, and in the process of treating thousands and thousands of patients, it was found that many people undergoing the procedure had other unrelated aches and pains disappear. It was at this point that scientists began to consider that shockwaves may have an effect to heal other sorts of tissues.
Specialized machines were then developed specifically with the idea of using these shockwaves on other parts of the body, and this is the origin of ESWT.
The type of shockwave therapy we use, then, is specialized to specifically help treat musculoskeletal conditions.
What conditions can you treat with ESWT?
Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy can be used to treat a wide variety of musculoskeletal conditions--particularly those involving where major connective tissues attach to bone.
Complaints involving attachment points for tendons and ligaments in major joints like the shoulder (such as the rotator cuff), elbow (epicondylitis or tennis elbow), hip, and knee (tendinitis or "jumper's knee) are common sites for ESWT.
One of the areas most frequently treated with ESWT, however, is the foot. This is our specialty. Some conditions in the foot that have been treated with ESWT include:
Plantar Fasciitis or Fasciosis (Strained Arch)
Achilles Tendinitis or Tendinosis
Calcific Tendinitis or Tendinosis
Connective Tissue Pain and degeneration
Muscle Pain and Injuries
Joint Injuries
Morton's Neuromas
And as ESWT encourages bone healing, it has been used to help treat:
Stress Fractures
Avascular Necrosis (A dead portion of bone)
Slow-healing bone (Delayed unions)
Non-healing bone (Non-unions)
