Transcription
And if you clicked on this video, it's because you must be very curious about this sensational treatment for some chronic pains. It's a non-invasive treatment, requiring no cutting, anesthesia, or hospitalization, besides allowing an early return to your work activities. I will talk in this video all about shockwave. So, stay with me until the end. If you are new here on the channel, don't forget to subscribe and activate the little bell to be notified of our orthopedic news.
And there, and there. [Music] Okay, but what are shockwaves? Two very important things. First, there is no actual electric shock; you won't be getting shocked. And it's also not TENS, that famous little shock from physiotherapy. The truth is, you've heard of shockwaves from thunder during a storm. Resulting shockwaves, the explosion of a volcano causes a shockwave. The explosion of a bomb also causes shockwaves, as you can see in this video. And how did it enter medicine? During some explosions near submarines, it was observed that even though the submarine remained intact, some crew members suffered internal injuries. So, it was seen what it did to our bodies. After many studies in the 80s, techniques were developed to use this shock on kidney stones, that famous lithotripsy. And after a while, they saw that these patients who underwent treatment for kidney stones had regenerative changes in the kidney and increased the iliac bone in the pelvis. And then they started studying it for orthopedics in the following decade. So, they began studying these regenerative effects on bone tissue, muscle, and tendons.
How are shockwaves generated in the human body? Generally, they are generated by these strong machines. This one in particular is an English machine that has a projectile inside, which is fired at high speed. When it hits this tip, there's a barrier, and then it transmits energy to the patient's body. When we turn it on, it makes this noise here. That's the projectile going back and forth. So, there are four main effects of this energy that propagates through the tissue. First, we have an increase in blood circulation, stimulating the formation of new vessels. Tissue that has been inflamed for a long time is poor in blood circulation, receives little oxygen, and has more difficulty healing and recovering. Another effect is the reduction of pain-conducting fibers, helping to reduce pain in that area. It also stimulates the famous stem cells, which have the characteristic of aiding regeneration, besides also causing potent muscle relaxation. So, we combine all these actions, and we achieve a regenerative healing process by the body itself, in a very biological way. So, this is truly the medicine of the future, where our goal is to return the tissue to its condition before the disease.
Well, and when do we use shockwaves? Generally, in cases of more chronic pains, precisely because it has this regenerative characteristic. It is very commonly used in lateral and medial epicondylitis, the famous tennis elbow. Calcific tendinitis, which is calcification that occurs in the shoulder. We also use it a lot for muscle pains in this region, the famous myofascial syndrome, besides Achilles tendinitis, knee tendinitis, plantar fasciitis, among others. Like, for example, delayed fracture healing. We can accelerate fracture healing with shockwaves. And generally, one session is done weekly. The number of sessions varies according to the indication. We always associate the treatment with physiotherapy. Anti-inflammatories cannot be used because they counteract the healing action. I will put a card at the end of this video about how a complete shockwave session will be.
And when should we not do shockwave? Pregnant women, near the area of pregnancy, cancer in the area to be treated, precisely because it increases vascularization, which would be bad. So, we don't do it for children, adolescents, and completely ruptured tendons. If you have any questions left, leave them in the comments. Don't forget to give the video a like, and here above is the card for you to see what a shockwave session is like from beginning to end. And until the next video.