Shockwave Therapy – What’s Involved

shockwave therapy melbourne

We take a look at what is involved for you as a patient when attending principle four osteopathy for shockwave therapy in Melbourne.

Should your osteopath feel that you may benefit from shockwave therapy treatment, they will discuss this with you and outline the suggested treatment plan. Usually, the shockwave therapy treatment process involves treating the site of pain and placing the applicator against the skin tissue. During the initial phase of shockwave therapy treatment, there may be some pain that indicates correct targeting of the problem area. During the later phases of shockwave therapy treatment, you may feel less pain.

Each shockwave therapy treatment at Osteocare Craigieburn may last approximately 10 – 15 minutes which you may receive somewhere between 1500-3000 shockwaves depending on the region being addressed and suggested treatment protocol. It is usually recommended that individuals undergo between 3-6 shockwave therapy sessions with our osteopath. Shockwave therapy treatments may be carried out every 5-8 days and should you feel any discomfort following the session icing and analgesia may help.

Shockwave therapy provides almost instant pain relief and promotes tissue regeneration and repair. How it works is by initiating an inflammation-like process. The body responds to shockwave therapy by increasing blood flow to the area being treated which in turn kick-starts your body’s healing process.

To illustrate this, let’s say you were suffering from Plantar Fasciitis. Shockwave therapy in Melbourne would be used to target the plantar fascia, achilles and calf while manual hands-on osteopathic techniques would be used to treat the dysfunction in the lower back and hip area.

Supportive exercises would then be prescribed to support the shockwave therapy treatments and to achieve long-term improvement.

How Does Shockwave Therapy Work?

Chattanooga RPW are compressed air-ballistic shockwave generators. The shockwave is generated with a precision ballistic mechanism in the handpiece which accelerates a projectile by compressed air. The motion and weight of the projective produce kinetic energy which translates along the transmitter into a sound energy form as an acoustic wave. The acoustic wave is transmitted into the tissue via a coupling gel and this is known as radial pressure wave therapy.

Radial pressure waves offer a non-invasive solution for these complaints and it is believed that the physical effects of radial pressure waves create increased cell membrane permeability metabolically which allows old damaged and weakened cells to be removed and replaced with health viable cells, shockwaves also help to modulate the amount of nociceptive activity and decreasing the pain signal and increases blood circulation in tissues which may stimulate the healing process.

Are There Any Studies That I Can Read About To Learn More?

There are currently a number of published scientific studies that you are welcome to review that demonstrate positive outcomes for shockwave therapy:

Shockwave therapy for Achilles tendinopathy
Shockwave therapy for Lateral epicondylitis
Shockwave therapy for Plantarfasciitis
Shockwave therapy for Patellar tendinopathy
Shockwave therapy for Trochanteric/Gluteal tendinopathy
Shockwave therapy for Calcific tendonitis of the shoulder
Shockwave therapy for Adhesive capsulitis

Shockwave therapy provides almost instant pain relief and promotes tissue regeneration and repair. How it works is by initiating an inflammation-like process. The body responds to shockwave therapy by increasing blood flow to the area being treated which in turn kick-starts your body’s healing process.

To illustrate this, let’s say you were suffering from Plantar Fasciitis. Shockwave therapy in Melbourne would be used to target the plantar fascia, achilles and calf while manual hands-on osteopathic techniques would be used to treat the dysfunction in the lower back and hip area.

Supportive exercises would then be prescribed to support the shockwave therapy treatments and to achieve long-term improvement.

Contraindications to shockwave therapy treatment include pregnancy, bleeding and blood coagulation disorders, skin wounds or acute inflammation in the treatment area and tumours in the treatment area.

Visit OsteoCare Craigieburn for Shockwave Therapy Melbourne

If you’re ready to reap the benefits of shockwave therapy, give us a call on 1800 067 836 or visit us at Level 1, 31 Craigieburn Road, Craigieburn. We’re always ready to answer your questions and treat new patients!