What Is Ultrasound?
Ultrasound is just one of the different modalities i offer in clinic. So here is a brief description about it and if it can be of benefit to you.
As the name implies, ultrasound machines produce sound waves that have been found to have healing effect on muscles, ligaments and bones. These sound waves are ultrasonic, beyond the upper limit of human hearing and the 2 most commonly used frequencies of the sound waves are 1MHz (megahertz) and 3MHz. These waves travel through the skin and get absorbed by the soft tissues and bones.
How Does Ultrasound Therapy Help In Healing?
For soft tissues such as muscles and ligaments, there are basically 2 ways the ultrasound therapy is proposed to work, thermal (heating effect) and non thermal (non heating effect).
High intensity continuous ultrasound can cause the tissues to have a heating effect. This heating effect causes the surrounding blood vessels to expand, improving the blood circulation to that area. The heat also increases the metabolic rate of the cells othe soft tissue, increasing its healing capability.
On the other hand, when there is acute injury to the soft tissue or bone, the heating effect can cause an adverse reaction instead. In this instance, low intensity pulsed ultrasound is preferred. This low intensity, pulsed ultrasonic waves increases the cellular activity of the injured soft tissue and thus promoting a faster healing, without the detrimental effects of heating.