Ultrasound therapy is a specialized method of physical therapy that uses mechanical energy to promote the healing process. It can be used as a way to manage or relieve pain, treat injuries, and improve your ability to perform daily activities. If you are suffering from pain or a recent injury, ultrasound treatments may benefit you.

What does ultrasound treat?

Ultrasound treatments are vague, in the sense that they can treat a vast variety of conditions. It is not limited to one specific ailment or region of pain. Some common conditions that ultrasound helps treat include, but are not limited to:

• Arthritis
• Bursitis
• Tendinitis
• Frozen shoulder
• Muscle spasms
• Fractures
• Sprains, strains, and tears

Ultrasound treatments help to relieve pain, increase blood flow, reduce swelling and inflammation, and promote tissue healing. By doing so, it is able to successfully treat and reduce the painful symptoms of multiple conditions.

How does ultrasound therapy work?

The technology behind ultrasound treatments involves the use of sound waves. These sound waves are used to treat conditions affecting the muscles, ligaments, and bones by creating vibrations that generate heat. When the tissues vibrate, friction is produced at the molecular level, which causes the temperature of the tissues to increase. While heating packs can be effective in warming up an affected area, they are unable to reach the tissues in the same way that ultrasound technology can.

What happens in the body during an ultrasound treatment?

There are two main ways that ultrasound works to heal and repair damaged tissues in the body. The first includes the thermal energy (heat) benefits and the second includes the non-thermal benefits.

Thermal benefits

Heat enters your deep tissues during an ultrasound treatment. The heat helps to reduce pain, increase blood circulation, and allow for an easier stretch of the muscles. The thermal energy produced during your ultrasound treatment can also loosen up tight muscles and tendons.

Non-thermal benefits

Ultrasound technology can work in beneficial ways that are unrelated to its transfer of heat. The energy that enters the body during an ultrasound treatment creates tiny gas bubbles that gather around the tissues. These bubbles then expand and contract at a rapid pace, which is a process known as cavitation. This can help in repairing any damaged tissue, such as scar tissue or cellulite, and loosening up the muscles.

The “magic” of ultrasound is the way it works to gently massage the underlying muscles, tendons and ligaments, softening scar tissue without any added extra strain on the patient.

This gentle heating caused by vibrating tissues can increase blood flow to the targeted area, loosen tissue and speed up healing. There is also evidence that suggests ultrasonic waves stimulate cellular processes associated with tissue healing!

Ultrasound is usually used along with physiotherapy treatments to further reduce pain, swelling and promote healing in the treatment of common issues like tennis elbow, ankle sprain, tendonitis, rotator cuff, shoulder pain and much much more. Many patients see a decrease in pain after one treatment!

Added benefits of ultrasound therapy include:

• • Improved healing rates
  • Deep heating
  • Reduced pain
  • Breakdown of scar tissue
  • Activate healing process

 Ultrasound is another modality that physical therapists can use to help a patient with their pain. Ultrasound is essentially a machine that uses sound waves to generate heat within a body part. What the therapist will do with the patient is use a sound head or something that you would see similar in a doctor's office where they do sonograms on pregnant women, and they put a little gel on the sound head and your body part. And, in a circular motion, we just rub the sound head on, say, your shoulder joint, and what that will do is generate heat in that joint, which will help with overall blood flow circulation. It will also help loosen up tissues to allow them to respond better to stretch or any other manual techniques that the therapist will be using such as to loosen up tight joints or tight muscles. It also helps prepare the body part for just general activity before an exercise program. Ultrasound can also be helpful in acute injuries for non-thermal effects, meaning no heat is generated, but it can help increase blood flow so that way inflammation or swelling can be reduced.