Shockwave Therapy and Lingering Elbow Injuries

After 11 years of treating with Shockwave Therapy I can say that 85% of my patients who have found relief with Shockwave Therapy sought other therapies first without success.  So why is Shockwave Therapy working when other treatments are not?  The answer revolves around what has happened to the tissue inside your injury; the reason why your injury persists. Whether your injury occurred from a trauma or from repetitive activity, both causes create microtears in the muscle.  The body has only one answer for this, and that is to create scar tissue.  Scar tissue is weak, inflexible, prone to re-injury and attaches to other healthy tissues creating an unwanted bridge called an adhesion.  Once this happens, any use of the muscle causes friction, heat and tension in the muscle, which limits the amount of oxygen entering the injury and creates even more scar tissue.  Your body enters a cycle of inflammation, pain and scar tissue formation that it cannot get out of.

Therapies most of us try are aimed at reducing inflammation, decreasing swelling, and temporarily reducing pain.  If the injury was fresh from a trauma, this may be appropriate. If, however, it is not a brand new injury, or if is due to repetitive activity or seems to have come out of nowhere, it likely now has scar tissue embedded.  Also remember that while ice or braces provide temporary relief, these conditions becomes chronic around 2-3 months at which time that scar tissue occurs.  This scar tissue or adhesions involve muscle fibers “gluing” to one another until the muscle may ultimately become dysfunctional to the point that even simple tasks irritate the muscle.

This brings us back to why Shockwave Therapy works when other treatments do not.  Shockwave Therapy breaks up scar tissue and adhesions.  This in turn restores the function of the muscle and promotes new blood vessel growth, stimulating faster healing. Additionally, it stimulates collagen production, increases oxygen to the injured tissue, and creates firmer, stronger muscle fiber.

If you have been suffering from golfer’s elbow, tennis elbow, carpel tunnel syndrome or another painful arm injury, you know how debilitating these conditions can be.   Sometimes the chronic pain is accompanied by a shaking hand or a reduction in grip strength, making simple tasks such as holding a cup of coffee very difficult.  Numbness or tingling may also be present. Sometimes the pain and limited mobility extends up to the shoulder and down to the wrist, making it challenging to know where the source of the injury is.  Whether the exact cause and source of your injury is known or unknown, and whether or not you have already tried other therapies with limited success, I encourage you to come in for a free consultation.  I can help identify the exact site of the injury and determine if Shockwave Therapy is likely to help.  If have chronic pain and/or limited mobility, do not give up hope.  Remember, most of my patients who have found success with Shockwave Therapy had tried other therapies first without improvement.