How do shock waves affect humans?

The main danger of a shock wave is that it can cause blood vessels in the lungs to burst and you can drown. This depends on the size of the explosion and the medium. Shockwaves have many applications in today's medicine. Originally they were used only to eliminate kidney stones, but are now used in orthopedic pain therapy or to treat patients with Alzheimer's disease, among other things.

The compression and suction phases of explosion dynamics manifest as shock waves and displacement waves, respectively. The effects of a shock wave depend on the explosive charge, the distance from the explosion, and the terrain and surroundings. Detachment, implosion, inertia and pressure differentials are mechanisms by which injury can be caused to the human body, especially to gas-containing organs. Displacement waves cause light objects to become high-speed missiles, which can cause lacerations or penetrating wounds.

In addition to the wave of blood that circulates through the brain, a shock wave tends to cause injuries as it passes from one type of tissue to another. EH generators, for example, produce shock waves immediately after the separation between sparks, while EM and PE generators have a slight delay in a matter of nanoseconds thanks to the concentration of the waves. This technique first emerged around the 1980s as extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy and has been studied ever since for application in orthopedics and traumatology. Consequently, the 5 MPa focus has been defined as the spatial zone in which the shock wave pressure is equal to or greater than 5 MPa.

It has been shown that, in most cases, shock wave therapy results in increased blood circulation and increased metabolic activity, leading to the start of the healing process. The impulse of a shock wave is particularly important, since it is the means by which forces are exerted on matter. The targeted application of shockwaves requires that the focal zone of the shockwave system be directed to the region of the body that requires treatment. Another characteristic of shock waves is their relatively low p-traction wave component, which represents about 10% of the maximum pressure p+.

It follows that the dose of shock waves that may be required for a specific treatment depends in part on the type of shock wave system used. In the present study, the authors review and discuss the main biological mechanisms triggered by the application of extracorporeal shock wave therapy to support the treatment of musculoskeletal injuries as a regenerative medicine technique. In addition, it is important that there are no gas-filled organs (lungs) or large bone structures in the path of propagation of shock waves. Most victims are due to secondary injuries, since shrapnel usually affects an area larger than the area of the main explosion, since debris can easily propel hundreds or even thousands of meters.

And it explains why shock waves can pass through many types of tissue without causing appreciable damage, and why a therapeutic release of force that can even fragment calculations is selectively observed at the interfaces. From a different perspective, some research28 points out that it may be misleading to refer to RSWT as true shock wave therapy because, technically, these devices do not generate “real shock waves”. The pulse duration is approximately 1000 nanoseconds (1 µs) (and therefore much shorter than that of medical pressure waves, see fig. The magnitude of damage caused by the blast wave depends on the peak of the initial positive pressure wave, the duration of the overpressure, the medium in which it explodes, the distance from the incident blast wave and the degree of concentration due to a confined area or walls.