Regenerative Medicine of Naples

ESWT or Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy was used initially for treating kidney, urinary and gallbladder stones. Today, ESWT is being used to treat various musculoskeletal conditions like plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinitis, fresh bone fractures and even for faster wound healing. ESWT is commonly used for treating chronic sports injuries like patellar tendinopathy (jumper’s) knee, tennis and golfers elbow.

In the US, ESWT has been approved since 2000 by the FDA. ESWT is a unique treatment modality, as it is one of the few technologies in the field of medicine that can trigger the healing process of non-healing or chronic injuries by moving them back to the acute phase of healing.

ESWT uses shock waves to treat injuries. These shockwaves stimulate the growth of new blood vessels (angiogenesis) and nerves (neurogenesis), due to minute injuries or microtrauma introduced by the shockwaves; hence, promoting inflammation and stimulation of wound healing.

Types of ESWT

High-Energy ESWT

This is the use of high energy shockwaves, inflicting more micro injures into the affected site. Due to this, the area needs to be anesthetized to complete the procedure. Treatment lasts for 15 to 20 minutes. The advantage of using High-Energy ESWT over Low-Energy ESWT is that the treatment is only done once. Only on rare occasions a second treatment is needed.

Low-Energy ESWT

This procedure uses low energy shockwaves and not much micro injuries are introduced into the affected site; hence, much more sessions are needed to gain positive results. Five sessions are required at a 4 to 7 day interval. An advantage to Low-Energy ESWT is it does not cause much pain, no anesthesia is needed, since it desensitizes the area of treatment. The initial phase of the treatment can be uncomfortable and about 1% of patients require anesthetization.