One thing I like to do with this Note is let you all know advances in medicine and treatment options I’m excited about. This week we’re going to talk about something really cool that we’ve been doing for a little over a year now in our offices for several different conditions. It’s called extracorporeal (outside the body) shockwave therapy. If you google it, you’ll find that the Mayo Clinic has listed all the neat treatments this can do to help heal things. The original reason we purchased this machine at Performance Medicine was for treatments for erectile dysfunction. We’ve used it for ED hundreds of times and have had great results with it. At our offices we call this treatment the HisWave. Our protocol for this is usually two treatments per week for three weeks. A lot of what we do is men’s health, for which we often treat hormonal deficits. Another part of men’s health is erectile dysfunction, which is a circulatory problem most of the time. What is extracorporeal shockwave therapy?
It’s actually acoustic sound wave therapy that’s painless and increases circulation. It breaks up calcifications in the circulation, as well as in the tendons and perhaps the joints. I do a lot of sports medicine, and we started to use this for injured soft tissue as a way to decrease pain and speed up the healing process. This is really important as we age. The first thing we started using it for besides erectile dysfunction was plantar fasciitis, which it is FDA approved for. It’s really an amazing treatment for that and it doesn’t involve needles or surgery! This machine is pretty unique, and not a lot of people know about the many different treatment options you can use it for. What it does is it causes a cellular response that leads to tissue rejuvenation. That’s what we’re all looking for. As I’ve said many time in these Notes, most people that come to the doctor come for one of two reasons. They either hurt or they’re tired. Extracorporeal shockwave therapy is another option patients can consider for helping get rid of your pain. It’s great for chronic tendonitis. By that I mean things like tennis elbow and other things that seem like you can’t get rid of. It’s also good for:
Rotator cuffs
Golfer’s elbow
Hamstring injuries
Quads
Achilles
Patella tendonitis on the knee (FDA approved for this)
Ernie Dickson, who has 35 years of experience as a Physical Therapist, uses this treatment in a great way. He has all these other modalities that he treats people with. He can figure out what’s wrong with you as far as asymmetries, and what’s leading to a particular injury or chronic problem. I’ve had shoulder problems for most of my adult life, and we figured out that it wasn’t really my shoulder that was the problem. It was a tight peck and weak scapular muscles. Ernie figures things like that out, treats it, and then gives you exercises you can do at home so you can strengthen those areas that are causing the problem. So as you get older, whether you’re exercising a lot or not moving much at all, you can come along with these nagging injuries. The baby boomer generation needs to stay active! A lot of us lift weights, ride bikes and run. Many swim and do yoga. All of these are great! But sometimes it seems like we get more of these inflammatory responses when we’re trying to be active. Extracorporeal shockwave therapy is a good option to check into, and something that can help rid you of all these chronic pain and tendinopathies. It works really well from the first time you do it.
