Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy
(ESWT)
An established, effective and safe treatment for chronic soft tissue injuries
sanctioned for use in the UK by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).
A new service for the treatment of chronic soft tissue injury
Shock Wave Therapy has been endorsed by BUPA for the following conditions:
- Tennis elbow
- Achilles tendinopathy
- Plantar fasciitis
- Calcific tendinopathy in the shoulder
- Patellar tendinopathy
- Proximal hamstring tendinopathy
- Greater trochanteric pain syndrome
Shockwave is an important development in the treatment of chronic soft tissue injuries, such as tendinopathy etc.
Such injuries pose a huge problem because they are resistant to other treatments, such as ultrasound, steroid injection, PRP injection and medication.
ESWT can be effective because it works differently, triggering the injured area to heal by creating controlled micro-trauma and thus ‘kick starting’ a new healing process.
Treatment cost
ESWT Treatment Package £ 200.00
(includes assessment, rehabilitation program prescription and 3x ESWT treatments)
Further individual sessions £ 60.00 per session
Recommended programme
The optimum treatment protocol for ESWT is three treatment sessions at 1-week intervals. Further treatment sessions can be provided normally to a maximum of 6 sessions. The number of shocks delivered is dependent upon the injury site, but is typically 2000 shocks delivered in bursts of 8-10 shocks. The session time is variable being sufficient to deliver the dose required.
A brief history of ESWT development
Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy was first used in clinical practice in 1982 for the treatment of urinary stones. But further studies revealed that ESWT had therapeutic potential in improving bone fracture healing and subsequently soft tissue healing.
Continuing research has found that controlled shock waves stimulate healing in chronic injury where the body’s normal healing process has stalled. Physiotherapists and orthopaedic surgeons are now adopting ESWT as an alternative to existing treatment protocols for stubborn soft tissue injuries (eg. tendon, ligament and muscle injuries).
Chronic soft tissue injuries, such as tendinopathy, had previously been seen as resistant to treatments such as exercise therapy, ultrasound, steroid injection, PRP injection and medication. But Shock Wave Therapy has made an important breakthrough in this area.
How Treatment is Applied:
Shock Wave Therapy is delivered by a handheld electromagnetic device. This creates a series of mini shock waves that are precisely controlled. The shockwave energy and specific dose for each condition being described in terms of energy in millijoules.