PHYSICAL THERAPY AND OCCUPATIONAL INJURY MEDICINE FOR TENDON SPRAINS AND STRAINS AND ULTRASOUND PHYSICAL THERAPY

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Doctors often prescribe physical therapy for muscle sprains and occupational injuries. Occupational injury often involves ligament sprains and strains. Physical therapists use many ways,"modalities" to treat these muscle strains and also for joint and shoulder pain. Maybe you had ultrasound therapy for shoulder tendinitis and wonder how ultrasound therapy works. It uses ultra high frequency sound waves.



Common indications for ultrasound physical therapy include treatment of tendon injuries and short-term pain relief. Ultrasound has also been shown to promote healing of some acute bone fractures, venous and pressure ulcers. Higher-frequency ultrasound waves treat superficial tissues for example, the knee patellar tendon which attaches to the knee cap. Lower frequencies penetrate deeper to treat deep muscle bruising, spasms, and strains.



The heating effects of continuous ultrasound therapy are beneficial in the treatment of sports injuries, breaking down scar tissue and helping to stretch tendons. In cases where heating is not wanted in physical therapy, such as with acute inflammation or with wound care, intermittent pulsed ultrasound is used, rather than the continuous ultrasound. Pulsed ultrasound provides mechanical effects such as increased permeability of cell membranes and possibly repair of tissues. Pulsed ultrasound is thought to accelerate tissue healing at the cellular level.




Therapeutic ultrasound is different than diagnostic ultrasound, therapeutic uses higher frequencies than diagnostic. Diagnostic ultrasound is used to produce sound wave images as for example in an ultrasound exam of the heart. I have talked about ultrasound elsewhere on healty medical Blog.




Therapeutic ultrasound can cause burns if applied incorrectly. The therapist uses the ultrasound applicator, which looks like a shower head, to massage the skin with high frequencies that can reach up to five inches below the surface of skin. The therapist applies a gel on the skin before applying the ultrasound machine. The gel works as a conductive medium to allow the sound waves to travel from the applicator head into the body.