In 2021, 3.2 million people were treated in emergency rooms for sports-related injuries. These athletes are eager to get back to activity, and many are hesitant to go under the knife or take drugs that carry heavy side effects. Sports physical therapists have their work cut out for them.
Shockwave therapy can help.
With a handheld device, sports physical therapists can target a patient’s injury with acoustic pressure waves. These pressure waves stimulate blood flow to the affected area, stimulating cells responsible for healing damaged bone and tissue. As a result, shockwave therapy can treat many common sports-related musculoskeletal injuries without drugs or surgery.
The Benefits of Shockwave Therapy for Sports Physical Therapy
Common injuries that shockwave therapy can treat in sports physical therapy include:
- Myofascial pain
- Hamstring and Achilles tendinopathies
- Tennis elbow
- Jumper’s knee
- Plantar fasciitis
- And more
Baseball players, for instance, can benefit greatly from shockwave therapy. Pitchers often deal with elbow injuries due to the repetitive, high-intensity nature of the position’s movements.
A recent study looked at shockwave therapy for avulsion fractures of the sublime tubercle of the ulna in high school baseball players.
For avulsion fractures, conservative treatment is used first. If bone union cannot be achieved, bone fixation or ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction is performed. Athletes who receive surgery are looking at a rehabilitation timeline of four months to a full year.
In the study, patients with stress fractures of the sublime tubercle of the ulna who did not respond to rest and conservative treatment received either bone fixation, ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, or shockwave therapy.
Patients who received bone fixation returned to pitching four to six months after treatment. Patients who received ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction returned after nine to 12 months. While patients who received shockwave therapy returned just three months.
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