On average, surgeons perform about 234 million major surgeries around the world. While surgery can save a person and potentially improve their quality of life, it does not come without risks.

Surgery puts people at risk of major complications and even death. The care plan should opt for non-invasive methods whenever possible.

In certain instances, extracorporeal shockwave therapy can eliminate the need for surgical procedures. Read on to learn more about it!

What Is Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy?

Extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) delivers energy pulses to injured areas of the body. This creates microtrauma to injured tissues, which improves blood flow and activates the body’s immune response to initiate pain relief and healing.

Acoustic high-energy pulses break create short and intense waves that break the sound barrier and create what doctors refer to as a “true sound wave”. Low energy pulses create longer waves that do not break the sound barrier.

These waves may generate from electromagnetic machines or electrohydraulic devices. The type of wave delivered depends on the patient’s ailment.

Conditions ESWT Treats

Who Can Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy Help? This type of therapy can provide pain relief and healing to people suffering from a number of conditions.

This treatment may help avoid surgery. Let’s look at the potential conditions it can treat!

Common Musculoskeletal Conditions

Neck and back pain causes about 83 million missed days of work each year for Americans. ESWT can alleviate chronic muscular pain in the neck and back to keep you from calling in sick and losing money.

It may also treat other common conditions such as:

• Minor rotator cuff injuries
• Tennis and/or golfer’s elbow
• Bursitis of the hip
• Tendonitis of the knee
• Shin splints

Ask your doctor if it can help any other types of musculoskeletal pain you may experience.

Kidney Stones

When solutes, like oxalate, binds to calcium or other minerals, stones can form in the kidneys. As these stones move down through the ureters and through the rest of the urinary tract, they cause bleeding and excruciating pain.

Sometimes, the kidney stones are so big that they get stuck. A stone stuck in the ureter constitutes an emergency situation, because the urine backs up into the kidney causing it to swell and not function properly. This can cause toxicity in the body.

Sometimes, surgeons put a stent into the kidney to drain the urine as the stone breaks down. This can lead to a number of further complications and take a long time to recover. In many instances, high-energy waves produced by ESWT can blast the stone into smaller pieces so it passes on its own.

Benefits of ESWT

This non-invasive solution costs much less to invasive alternatives. It does not require any entry into the body that can lead to infection.

ESWT also requires no use of any drugs or anesthesia for sedation. This eliminates the risk of breathing difficulties and allergic reactions.

This therapy works for a number of conditions. It comes with few documented side effects.

Choose Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy

Are you a good candidate for extracorporeal shockwave therapy? If so, oft for this treatment before undergoing an expensive and possibly dangerous surgical procedure.

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