Healing

Stimulating parts of the body that have sustained trauma may help to expedite the healing process. Shockwaves can increase blood flow, so they could help play a role in recovery by facilitating the process or repairing and rebuilding muscle or other connective tissues. Shockwaves can reduce inflammation which could complicate recovery or cause acute pain.

Applications in Orthopedic Physical Therapy

The benefits of shockwave therapy for herniated disc nerve pain have been getting greater attention in recent years. Physical therapists have been treating patients who are experiencing chronic pain associated with disc compression and nerve impingement with electrical stimulations devices for the past decade, and many patients report marked improvement in their symptoms after treatment.

The pulse of electric signals interrupts the transmission of pain signals that conduct the transmission of nerve pain which commonly plagues patients with one or more disc herniations. This therapy can also help to relax tension in spasmed muscles which have contracted to come to the defense of a compressed or damaged disc.  

In effect, this type of treatment can help to reduce pain levels and thereby offer a noninvasive alternative to surgical intervention. As a pain management tool, it can reduce patients’ reliance on anti-inflammatory medications which can carry considerable risks of adverse side-effects for individuals with chronic pain. Most NSAIDs, for example, are not intended for long-term use because use beyond two weeks raises concerns involving liver and kidney function. Likewise, shockwaves can reduce the need for prescription painkillers which can quickly lose efficacy and cause patients to form chemical dependencies.

At-Home Use

The popularity of electrical treatment in physical therapy and the emerging accessibility of this technology is facilitating the widespread use of at-home devices. These affordable machines that people can use at home can help them manage pain associated with disc herniation, spondylosis, labral tears, and other orthopedic conditions.

People can treat themselves by applying the connective attachments of a device directly to the site of an injury or to a nerve pain pathway. Some devices’ connective attachments come in the form of electrode pads and others have small metal electrodes that people can touch directly against the skin. They have controls to regulate the intensity of shockwaves and the rhythm of a pulse. Fifteen to twenty minute treatment sessions can proactively prevent pain or help to mitigate it once a person starts to perceive that his or her symptoms are worsening.

Imaging

In the future, there is a possibility that the benefits of electromagnetic therapy may be customized to individual patients’ needs. All of the neural activity within a person’s body can be expressed in terms of electromagnetic impulses. Using imaging that has the ability to study the transmission of these signals can enable treating physicians to readily identify and diagnose the etiological or neurological causes for various symptoms. Likewise, this imaging could ostensibly help physicians to create customized treatment plans incorporating data about neural activity. Introducing shockwave treatments that specifically address the way that people’s nervous systems relay individual pain signals, for example, could effectively halt the transmission of pain signals and alleviate patients’ perception of pain.

Technological advancements in shockwave therapy have the potential to improve patient outcomes for numerous health conditions. Noninvasive, proactive, and affordable treatments can continue to enhance the quality of care that medical care providers are able to give their patients. 

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