Shockwave therapy

A shockwave is a mechanical pressure impulse that travels as a wave through a medium – water, air or the human body. At the front of the wave the pressure rises very rapidly to high values. The shockwave transfers a large amount of energy into connective, muscle or bone tissue in a subacute or chronic state, which starts and supports regeneration and rapid healing of the treated tissue.

The shockwave immediately releases muscle tension, allows calcified fibroblasts to dissolve gradually and supports collagen production – giving it an analgesic and anti-inflammatory effect.

Conventional pneumatic shockwave therapy hurts when applied to painful areas. Many people are willing to endure that pain to be rid of long-standing problems with heel spurs, muscles or joints. That is no longer necessary.

Combined therapy using a piezoelectric shockwave in synergy with diathermic stimulation has the same – and in some respects better – broad-spectrum, immediate and long-lasting therapeutic effect, but does not hurt. The piezoelectric technology works at an optimised pressure of 1–1.5 bar, compared with 2.5–5 bar for the pneumatic version.

The benefit of combining shockwave with Tecar diathermy is that it relieves acute and chronic pain even in cases where other therapy does not work. The combination of three active energies, including the therapeutic gels, has an intense effect while the treatment remains painless. Being painless is unique among shockwave technologies and removes the risk of a patient abandoning the course because the pain is unbearable.

The treatment prepares the patient for further physiotherapy, increases range of movement and releases spasms and trigger points. Two physical energies act on the treated area at once – shockwave and diathermy – supplemented by the therapeutic gels delivered by transdermal vehiculation. Diathermy and shockwave are each very effective on their own, but applied together the effect is multiplied and lasts far longer.

The device can apply the combined preparation TRIJALUX, which brings together hyaluronic acid, ozone and vitamin C. In this role it works as a “needle-free syringe”. The pressure wave, combined with transdermal delivery, literally pushes the hyaluronic acid molecules through the skin and straight into the damaged structures of the knee joint. The knee gains the lubrication and nutrition it needs, friction between the cartilages falls and mobility improves.

The patient receives highly effective joint nutrition without the stress of needles, without pain and without any risk of infection or swelling such as can occur with conventional intra-articular injections. That is a considerable advantage, above all for older patients, athletes and anyone taking blood-thinning medication.

A major added value of the therapy is the active delivery of therapeutic substances (transdermal vehiculation) using low-frequency 10 Hz electrostimulation. This opens the intercellular and transmembrane transport channels, and so carries the active substances to their destination and speeds their absorption.

Each preparation is used according to the current need and diagnosis – it is added to the neutral conductive gel used as the contact medium during treatment.