Ultrasound therapy is a treatment used by physical therapists or occupational therapists to relieve pain and to promote tissue healing. While ultrasound therapy is not effective for all chronic pain conditions, it may help reduce your pain if you have any of the following: Osteoarthritis. Myofascial pain syndrome.
What is ultrasound therapy used for?
Ultrasound physical therapy is a branch of ultrasound, alongside diagnostic ultrasound and pregnancy imaging. It’s used to detect and treat various musculoskeletal issues you may have including pain, tissue injury, and muscle spasms.
When should ultrasound therapy be used?
Therapeutic ultrasound is often used by physiotherapists to reduce pain, increase circulation and increase mobility of soft tissues. Additionally, the application of ultrasound can be helpful in the reduction of inflammation, reducing pain and the healing of injuries and wounds.
How often should you use ultrasound therapy?
According to Rosenzweig, “Therapists use ultrasound anywhere from six to 12 sessions – it’s part of the patient’s therapy, so therapists might do it for five minutes, then perhaps twice a week anywhere from thee weeks to six weeks.
Is ultrasound effective for therapy?
Therapeutic ultrasound is one of the most widely and frequently used electrophysical agents. Despite over 60 years of clinical use, the effectiveness of ultrasound for treating people with pain, musculoskeletal injuries, and soft tissue lesions remains questionable.
What are the indications for ultrasound?
Indications for Ultrasound <12 Weeks Gestation
- hyperemesis gravidarum:
- diabetes mellitus;
- hypertension;
- toxaemia of pregnancy;
- liver or renal disease;
- autoimmune disease;
- cardiac disease;
- alloimmunisation;
Can ultrasound therapy be harmful?
It has the potential to produce harm if the heat is left in the same place too long. If, while being treated, you feel discomfort, alert your PT right away. One potential risk with therapeutic ultrasound is that the rapid pressure changes during cavitation could cause a “microplosion” and damage cellular activity.
How does ultrasound therapy reduce inflammation?
Mechanical ultrasound therapy uses pulses of sound waves to penetrate tissues. While this still has a minor warming effect, it also causes expansion and contraction in tiny gas bubbles in soft tissues. This decreases the inflammatory response, which reduces swelling and decreases pain.
Does ultrasound help neuropathy?
Low-intensity focused ultrasound therapy (LIFU) may be a safe and effective treatment option to manage chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, but larger prospective studies are needed to devise a specific protocol. This is according to research results published in Pain Management.
Does ultrasound help osteoarthritis?
Conclusions: Therapeutic ultrasound is a safe treatment to relieve pain and improve physical function in patients with knee osteoarthritis. However, phonophoresis does not produce additional benefits to functional improvement, but may relieve pain compared to conventional non-drug ultrasound.
Does ultrasound help with scar tissue?
One of the many benefits of ultrasound therapy is breaking up scar tissue caused by injuries or surgery. Scar tissue can cause pain and restrict joint movement. Ultrasound helps by using high-frequency sound waves to break the fibres of the scar tissue down into smaller fragments.
Does ultrasound increase blood flow?
Other modalities, such as ultrasound, are thought to be useful in increasing blood flow. Because increased blood flow brings more nutrients into the tissue, the healing process is facilitated. Ultrasound has been shown to increase tis- sue temperature and blood flow (1, 20).
Does ultrasound help arthritis?
Ultrasound therapy can be useful in repair cartilage damage caused by arthritis. A study (Low Intensity Ultrasound as a Supporter of Cartilage Regeneration…) found that ultrasound therapy allows oxygen to be delivered to the injured tissue of the joints facilitating tissue repair.
Does ultrasound speed healing?
As well as heating and relaxing the muscles, ultrasound therapy breaks down scar tissue and increases local blood flow. All of this combines to increase healing rates in the area, making it a suitable way to speed up slow-healing or chronic issues.
Is ultrasound evidence based?
Although ultrasound is almost certainly useful for some patients, some of the time, it is not a reliable or evidence-based therapy, and enjoys far more credibility than it deserves.
Is ultrasound good for pain?
The sound waves, or ultrasound rays, penetrate within the body generating heat increasing blood flow, and relaxing muscles and connective tissues thereby reducing pain and muscle spasms. The stimulation of these tissues in this way encourages repair and can greatly reduce the healing time of certain injuries.