Shockwave therapy is the utilization of energy pulses through a machine and gun tool onto muscle bands. This type of treatment requires training through a course or certification with Shockwave Canada, and is offered by both our Physiotherapists and Chiropractors in painPRO Clinics. Shockwave therapy breaks down adhesions, calcifications, and tight bands on musculature, while increasing blood flow and allowing the tissues to regenerate at a quicker rate. To understand the main chief complaints and protocols with shockwave therapy, we analyzed shockwave therapy statistics of our physiotherapist treatments between June 2017 to 2018.
Prime Injuries and Other Treatment Modalities
The most common injury found with regards to shockwave therapy in this period of time were shoulder injuries. The statistics displayed that the most common shockwaved muscle parts of the shoulder included supraspinatus, general rotator cuff, posterior capsule, and long head of biceps. All 4 of these muscle parts were shockwaved over 20% of the time for each treatment session. Joint mobilization techniques seemed to be the most common modality used alongside shockwave, over 60% of the treatments. Following joint mobilizations were soft tissue work and spinal manipulation, which were around 40% and 20%, respectively.
3-Treatment Protocol and Significant Improvement Rates
Some of the research with shockwave therapy revolves around injury improvement rates after 3 sessions. When we compare this protocol with our clinic data, it showed that patients who received 3 treatment sessions had an improvement rate of 72.0%. However, when treatment visits were greater than 3, improvement rate jumps to 91.3%, with an average of 5-6 visits. These statistics imply that 5-6 visits might be a closer approximation for amount of visits in order to feel a significant improvement. Keep in mind that there are still error rates within the data set, but these results can give a bit of expectation towards future patients.
To book with our Physiotherapists and Chiropractors, or for more information, feel free to take a look at https://painproclinics.com/treatment/shockwave-therapy-vancouver/.
