Ultrasound therapy is an electrotherapy which has been used in physiotherapy practices for many years. It is mainly used for its non-thermal effect where high frequency sound waves cause vibrations and movement of cellular fluids.
Proposed benefits of ultrasound therapy include improving the healing rate of certain soft tissues.
It is thought to :
- Increase blood flow to an area in order to accelerate the resolution time of the inflammatory process.
- Stimulate the production of collagen (the main protein in tendons and ligaments) during tissue healing.
Common Injuries Treated With Ultrasound
Therapeutic ultrasound is often used for treating chronic pain and promoting tissue healing. It may be recommended if you experience any of the following conditions:
Physical therapists use therapeutic ultrasound in two different ways:
Deep heating
Your physical therapist (PT) might use therapeutic ultrasound to provide deep heating to soft tissue to increase blood circulation to those tissues. This could, theoretically, promote healing and decrease pain.
Your PT might also use this treatment with the goal of improving the flexibility of muscles to restore a full range of motion.
Cavitation
Your PT might use ultrasound energy to cause rapid contraction and expansion of microscopic gas bubbles (cavitation) around injured tissue. This, theoretically, speeds healing.
The effectiveness of therapeutic ultrasound has not been documented through research. For example, a 2014 studyTrusted Source on 60 people with knee osteoarthritis concluded that the use of the treatment offered no additional benefit in pain improvement and functions.
Although not necessarily supported by clinical research, therapeutic ultrasound is a popular and widely used treatment offered by many physical and occupational therapists.
Because it is safe and commonly used to treat various conditions, you may try ultrasound therapy to see if it improves your functionality and pain and then decide if it is worth continuing.
Ultrasound as a Form of Therapy
For close to eight decades, ultrasound has been widely studied owing to its versatility allowing for a myriad of uses especially for its therapeutic benefits. Most studies revolve around low intensity therapeutic ultrasound on soft tissue recovery in animal and human soft tissue recovery. The two main types of ultrasound therapy however consist of thermal ultrasound therapy and mechanical ultrasound therapy.
Thermal ultrasound therapy as the name itself suggests, makes use of heat as its main element within the therapy. The continuous transmission of sound waves would cause microscopic vibrations deep within tissue molecules, creating an increase in friction and heat. Metabolism of the soft tissues are increased at a cellular level as a result of the warming effect and in turn encourage healing.
Mechanical ultrasound therapy on the other hand uses pulses of sound wave to penetrate tissues. The warming effect is minimal however, the pulsating waves cause the contraction and expansion of the tiny gas bubbles situated within the tissue. As a result, inflammatory response, tissue swelling, and pain are all decreased.
How does it feel during Ultrasound Therapy?
Some people may feel a mild pulsing during ultrasound therapy, while others might feel a slight warmth on the skin. However people may feel nothing at all besides the cold gel that has been applied on the skin. In exceptional cases, if your skin is too much sensitive to touch, you could possibly feel discomfort as the ultrasound applicator passes over the skin. Therapeutic Ultrasound, however, is never painful.
How Ultrasound is effective in chronic pain?
One of the most widely used modalities in the field of physiotherapy for treating chronic pain and Low Back Pain (LBP) is therapeutic ultrasound. Therapeutic ultrasound is used frequently by many physiotherapists around the world. It is a one-way energy delivery which utilizes a crystal sound head to transmit acoustic waves at 1 or 3 MHz. The heating, thus generated, is proposed to increase nerve conduction velocity, alter local vascular perfusion, increase enzymatic activity, alter contractile activity of skeletal muscle, and increase nociceptive threshold.
Ultrasound therapy is frequently used in the treatment of knee, shoulder and hip pain and is often combined with other therapeutic modalities. The treatment usually takes 2-6 treatment sessions and thus ideally lowers pain.
Is Ultrasound Therapy Device Safe?
Being called as Therapeutic Ultrasound Manufacturer, Ultrasound therapy is considered safe by the US FDA. You just need to take care of some points like it is performed by a professional and provided that the therapist keeps the applicator head moving at all times. If the applicator head remains in one place for a longer time, there is a chance to burn the tissues underneath, which you will definitely feel.
Ultrasound therapy should not be used on these body parts:
Over the abdomen or lower back in pregnant women
Exactly on broken skin or healing fractures
On eyes, breasts or sexual organs
On areas with metal implants or people with pacemakers
Over or near areas with malignant tumors
What Is Ultrasound Therapy ?
Ultrasound therapy is an electrotherapy which has been used in physiotherapy practices for many years. It is mainly used for its non-thermal effect where high frequency sound waves cause vibrations and movement of cellular fluids.
Proposed benefits of ultrasound therapy include improving the healing rate of certain soft tissues.
It is thought to :
- Increase blood flow to an area in order to accelerate the resolution time of the inflammatory process.
- Stimulate the production of collagen (the main protein in tendons and ligaments) during tissue healing.
Common Injuries Treated With Ultrasound
How Safe Is It?
Ultrasound therapy is a safe and innocuous treatment technique. However there are situations when ultrasound therapy is not appropriate. Your qualified physiotherapist will ensure that it is an appropriate technique for you and discuss it with you. Certain examples where it would definitely not be used are; over body parts with cancer, in pregnant women and in children.
Does It Work?
Studies have shown that ultrasound therapy can improve symptoms and healing in various soft tissue conditions but the quality of the evidence is often poor. Most recent studies have shown that ultrasound therapy has a high likelihood of a placebo effect and that long term benefits are minimal.
Ultrasound Therapy Treatment for Chronic Pain
Ultrasound therapy is a treatment used by physical therapists or occupational therapists to relieve pain and to promote tissue healing.
While ultrasound therapy is not effective for all chronic pain conditions, it may help reduce your pain if you have any of the following:
What Is Ultrasound Therapy?
Ultrasound therapy has been used by physiotherapists since the 1950s and remains a popular and evidenced intervention for a variety of injuries. It is the same technology as the ultrasound that is used to scan babies but in this case there is no image being taken, it is just the therapeutic effect of the soundwave that is being utilised.
It is a form of mechanical energy that uses high frequency sound waves to affect the healing process within the body. It is applied with an ultrasound probe which is placed on the skin via a transmission gel. A treatment session usually lasts between 5 and 10 minutes so at The Physiotherapy Place we tend to use it as part of the overall treatment session.
The Tissue Healing Process
When a tissue such as muscle or ligament is damaged, local blood flow and swelling brings an inflammatory soup of chemicals that begins the healing process. New tissue known as scar tissue is formed and laid down. As the scar tissue is generated, the fibres that make up the scar tissue are often laid down in an unorganised fashion. If the fibres of a tissue are unorganised or not correctly aligned they are not as strong or as flexible as the original tissue. Sometimes if this scar tissue remains unorganised it can leave us with tight and/or weak muscle or ligament even once healing is complete.
How Does Ultrasound Work?
When tissue is exposed to ultrasound, the sound waves cause a micro-vibration within the tissue. This vibration creates heat energy that increases blood flow to the area. This increased blood flow causes an increase in oxygen and chemicals that are essential for healing of the damaged tissue.
As well as increasing blood flow, ultrasound has the additional effect of speeding up the transport of chemicals from the blood into the damaged tissue to aid the healing of the tissue. This helps with building of new tissue and also helps to ensure the proper alignment of the tissue fibres to ensure full strength and flexibility is restored.
The end result is that ultrasound helps the body to heal and build new tissue in the quickest and most effective way possible.
What Injuries Do We Use Ultrasound For?
Ultrasound is most effective when used for soft tissue injuries including:
Depending on the intensity settings it can be a very useful treatment adjunct in acute injuries as well as chronic long-term injuries, helping us to make a quick and full recovery.
Everyone knows about ultrasound imaging for pregnancy, but did you know it can be used as a therapeutic treatment too?
The big difference between ultrasound imaging and therapeutic ultrasound is the frequency; with therapeutic ultrasound usually between 0.8MHz and 3.0MHz. Therapeutic ultrasound has been used by physical therapists since the 1940s and is still widely used for treating soft tissue and bone injury.
How Does Therapeutic Ultrasound Work?
Ultrasonic waves, beyond the hearing range of humans, penetrate the skin, gently vibrating and heating the tissues.
While this vibration causes deep heating in the tissues, there is usually no heat felt by the patient.
The Magic
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
