While there is an absolute contraindication against using shock wave therapy directly on the main nerves, it is acceptable to use shock wave therapy in the areas surrounding the main nerves. However, it is important to be very careful when performing treatment in areas close to the main nerves. Focused shock waves are used to disintegrate solid aggregations, such as kidney stones or solid deposits in tissues (calcified tendons) that often contain minerals. For these applications, a high energy level is needed to destroy kidney stones or calcifications.
The high energy transmission in cases of focused shock wave treatment requires intravenous sedation or even general anesthesia, as this procedure is usually very painful. Defocused shock waves are administered in soft tissue diseases, such as chronic wounds or ulcerations, and their recent applications also include ischemic heart disease (Zimpfer et al. Defocused shock waves show a different form of sound pressure distribution and therefore affect a larger tissue area. As a result, treatment with unfocused, low-energy shock waves does not induce pain in most cases.
Unfortunately, all too often, the initial treatment involves a pain-relieving injection, which helps immediately but actually inhibits healing. Injections have often been found to injure the tendon, often causing an interstitial tear and requiring a shock wave to resume the healing process (neoangiogenesis). The controlled permeabilization of mammalian cell membranes is essential to develop gene and cellular therapies based on macromolecular cargo transport, a process that emerged in response to an increasing number of health problems, such as genetic disorders, cancer and infections. The regenerative fibers of the shock wave therapy group achieved measurable functional reinnervation much faster, hence the difference in recovery times.
Non-invasive mechanobiological interventions, such as microenergy acoustic pulse (MAP), low-intensity pulsed ultrasonography, and low-intensity extracorporeal shock wave treatment, are an optimal approach to stimulating nerve regeneration. In Europe, greater emphasis is being placed on promoting Shockwave earlier in the process and will usually be suggested after three months. In addition, the nerve grafts from the control group had a large number of phagocytes and unmyelinated nerve fibers, while the nerve grafts from the shock wave treatment group had well-myelinated regenerating axons. By now you've lived with pain for 6 to 8 months and are willing to go through the operating room, but for those conditions that are persistent and don't respond to other treatments, Shockwave could be the solution.
After 12 weeks, there was no significant difference, indicating that the group treated with the shock wave recovered approximately six weeks faster, reducing recovery time by half. This is a good argument in favor of the focused shock wave, as it is easier to tolerate from the patients' point of view. However, it often depends on the patient and I have done a good number of them with Radial with considerable success. Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT), a non-invasive treatment, relieves pain caused by peripheral nerve damage and promotes local artery remodeling and cell regeneration.
At that time, the group that received the shockwave therapy also had a significantly higher number of myelinated nerve fires in the distal stump than the control group. Therefore, extracorporeal shock wave therapy is an effective and non-invasive solution for nerve regeneration. Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) has been shown to improve bone healing in vitro and in vivo. These findings indicate that low-energy ESWT promotes BDNF expression at the site of injury and reduces neural tissue damage and functional impairment following spinal cord injury.
For many, leaving it for too long means that surgery is the only option, because the larger the tumor, the more power it takes for Shockwave to take effect, which can be too painful...