Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy

How does Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy (ESWT) work?

Extracorporeal shock waves travel through soft tissue and fluid, and their effects occur at sites where there is a change in impedance, such as the bone/soft-tissue interface. ESWT has been used since the 1980s to treat kidney stones and is now used in physical therapy and orthopedics
It may also be used to treat:

• Shoulder tendinopathy
• Lateral epicondylosis
• Greater trochanteric pain syndrome
• Hamstring
• Tendinopathy
• Patellar
• Frozen shoulder
• Tennis elbow
• Heel pain (plantar fasciitis)

People that should not use Contraindications or situations in which ESWT may be inappropriate include:

• Treatment over air-filled tissue (lung, gut)
• Pregnancy
• Presence of local tumor or infection
• Less than six weeks since local corticosteroid injection
• Age less than 18 (except for patients diagnosed with Osgood-Schlatter disease)
• Treatment of pre-ruptured tendons
• Blood-clotting disorders, including local thrombosis

How does radial ESWT work?

Compressed air accelerates a projectile up to 80 to 90 kph within a guiding tube that strikes a metal applicator placed on the patient’s skin. The kinetic energy is converted into a radial shock wave. The projectile generates stress waves in the applicator that transmit pressure waves into tissue to a depth of 4 to 5 cm.