What Can Ultrasound Therapy Offer You?
Treatment with ultrasound therapy is utilized by an occupational or physical therapist. It is for treating conditions of pain and promoting the healing of tissue. It’s not always effective to treat conditions of chronic pain.
Although, it can reduce pain for the following conditions:
Strains and sprains
Phantom limb pain
Scar tissues that cause pain
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Bursitis
Myofascial pain
Osteoarthritis
Different ultrasound therapy types
There are two major types of therapy using ultrasound. One is mechanical and the other thermal therapy. They both make use of sound waves that are generated by a transducer head, this looks a lot like a microphone. It is used for penetrating your soft tissues.
Mechanical ultrasound therapies
This procedure uses sound wave pulses for penetrating the tissues and causes a small warming effect on your tissues. These cause contraction and expansion within the small gas bubbles inside your soft tissues. It can reduce the response of inflammation, while also reducing swelling of the tissue, and therefore, reduce your pain.
Thermal ultrasound therapies
With thermal therapy, they use sound wave transmission that is continuous. These waves transfer microscopic vibrations deep into the tissue molecules to increase friction and heat. This effect of heat encourages soft tissue to heal, increasing your metabolism at your tissue cell’s level.
Whatever therapy you might require will depend solely on the condition you developed.
How safe is ultrasound therapy?
The procedure is very safe if it’s performed by a qualified, experienced professional.
However, it shouldn’t be performed on the following body parts:
Areas that have impaired blood flow or sensations
Near or over areas that contain malignant tumors
Any area that has implants, especially plastic
Around your sexual organs, eyes or breasts
Over any healing fractures, lesions or broken skin
When you are pregnant or menstruating, it is not advised over your lower back, abdomen or pelvic regions
Additionally, not in any patient with a pacemaker
The benefits of using ultrasound therapy
Heat that is deeper
With ultrasound therapy, the heat it generates through sound wave vibrations can vibrate the tissues to increase friction down to your molecular level. Thus, causing your targeted tissue to rise due to the heat. It’s much better than the original hot pack treatment that can’t penetrate deep into your joint or musculature tissues. Conditions that benefit more by the heat that is deeper can include phantom limb and osteoarthritis pain.
Deeper stretch
Through ultrasound therapy, with heat generated deep into the tissue, it can provide improvement such as relaxing strained or tensed muscles. Most of the time, this will minimize shortening and spasms of the muscles related to an injury or tension. Plus, it can also increase a patient’s motion range.
Healing of tissues
It’s believed that deep heat from an ultrasound provides the effect of healing in deep tissue because it actually affects your soft tissue cell’s metabolism. Additionally, the cells become extra receptive to fluids that causes healing which can be found in blood flow that increases due to ultrasound therapy. It also has great benefits for treating lesions in soft tissue and surgical wounds.
Control scared tissues
Ultrasound has an extra benefit due to its acoustic effects where it generates small vibrations in the cells of your soft tissue. These effects sometimes called micro-vibrations, affect fibers which will form your scarred tissue. If the therapy is used over a long period of time, it actually can prevent any scar tissue of forming. Furthermore, it has the ability to break down certain scar tissues.
Reducing pain
Sometimes, controlling the pain through ultrasound arrives from the treatments mechanical results itself. It can involve the decreasing of tightness and spasms in your muscles and also increase healing of the tissues. By combining this procedures healing and heating powers, it can prepare your muscles to undergo different treatments therapeutically for reducing pain, as well as strengthening and stretching your muscles.
What to expect during the procedure?
Some patients experience mild pulsing with the treatment while other patients experience a slightly warm feeling on their skin. It might also be possible for a patient to experience nothing except for the gel that is cold on their skin. When the area that is affected is very sensitive if you touch it, it’s possible to feel some discomfort when the head of the transducer passes over it, but it shouldn’t be painful.
We see a variety of treatments arise with modern medicine these days. We no longer have to suffer from pain or even live with it. If you have pain, consult with your doctor today.