Ask any athlete and they’ll tell you injuries are common in sports. If they’re not actively treating an injury, an athlete is either preparing a previously injured area for activity or applying relief afterwards, maybe ice or anti-inflammatories. Extracorporeal shock wave therapy, also known as shockwave therapy, offers practitioners a drug-free, non-surgical, and non-invasive treatment option for patients experiencing sports-related injuries.
The academic journal Current Sports Medicine Reports recently advised that extracorporeal shock wave therapy can safely be used to treat various musculoskeletal conditions in athletes, including rotator cuff tendinopathy, lateral elbow epicondlyopathy, greater trochanteric pain syndrome, hamstring tendinopathy, patellar tendinopathy, Achilles tendinopathy, other tendinopathies, plantar fasciopathy, bone stress injuries, and medial tibial stress syndrome.
The journal highlighted the advantage of extracorporeal shock wave therapy in treating in-season athletes, because it requires either minimal or no time away from activity and offers “rapid benefits.”
One noteworthy sports-related injury that extracorporeal shock wave therapy has proven to be particularly effective in treating is patellar tendonitis, also known as jumper’s knee. The patellar tendon helps with activities such as kicking, running, and jumping and is affected when there is consistent stress on the knee. Athletes whose sports involve frequent jumping, such as basketball, are often the ones diagnosed with this condition.
A study featured in the American Journal of Sports Medicine, compared extracorporeal shock wave therapy for treating chronic patellar tendinopathy to traditional conservative treatments, including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, physiotherapy, exercise program, and the use of a knee strap.
Researchers noted that the overall results for the extracorporeal shock wave therapy group were 43 per cent excellent, 47 per cent good, 10 per cent fair, and zero poor. Whereas for the other group, the results were zero excellent, 50 per cent good, 25 per cent fair, and 25 per cent poor. Also, only 13 per cent of the extracorporeal shock wave therapy group experienced a recurrence of symptoms compared to 50 per cent of the other group.
In addition, ultrasonographic examination showed a significant increase in the vascularity of the patellar tendon and a trend of reduction in the patellar tendon thickness after extracorporeal shock wave treatment versus conservative treatments.
Shockwave Canada offers the world’s most effective shockwave technology with our exclusive Swiss-made Storz devices. If you would like to incorporate the long-term benefits of extracorporeal shock wave treatment into your practice, contact us today by dialing 1 (888) 741-SHOC(7462) or by visiting our website.
