Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy (ESWT) is a non-surgical treatment that uses high-pressure acoustic sound waves to stimulate healing and increase blood flow, with many positive effects on the body. ESWT can be used to treat a variety of conditions, including tendonitis, osteoarthritis and other joint problems, stress fractures and more.
ESWT is often referred to as focused shockwave therapy because the shockwaves are converged towards a focal point, where the energy is at its maximum. Depending on the condition or injury, different depths of penetration can be set to direct the focal point to the exact location of the injury
No, it is no longer “rehabilitation or surgery”.
ESWT gives patients a great treatment alternative to surgery. The effects of ESWT have been proven to stimulate tissue regeneration and repair, without injections or going under the knife. There is also no downtime involved as patients can walk out of the clinic after each session.
ESWT has been shown to:
There are 2 types of shockwave therapy:
There is another type of “shockwave” therapy that is often advertised as radial shockwave therapy. However, the correct term for this treatment is radial pressure wave therapy (RPWT), as it does not generate the sound wave of the same pressure and energy as ESWT.
It is important to differentiate RPWT from ESWT as patients are often misled into thinking that they have tried ESWT, and did not see results.
Conditions that are treated with ESWT include:
The International Society of Medical Shockwave Treatment (ISMST) has also published guidelines and a list of standard indications for the ESWT here.
ESWT, as with many other treatments, should be performed by trained professionals. All our podiatrists are certified medical shockwave practitioners by ISMST as patients’ safety is our priority.
ESWT should be avoided if you have the following:
You must inform your podiatrists or medical practitioners if you have any of the above before starting treatment.