Shockwave Therapy

Shockwave is proinflammatory or designed to stimulate an inflammatory response so some discomfort is normal. Treatment is over within minutes and patients report being able to tolerate discomfort due to the short period. We have high end kit here that you can adjust and ramp the shockwave to tolerance so give us some feedback. We are aiming for a 4-5/10. That being said research suggests if you take as much the effects are no different other that a less pleasant session. So its a feel it to heal it not no pain no gain approach with this one.

Patients report immediate pain relief after their first treatment. However within a few hours of treatment, you may experience slight soreness. It’s been normally tolerable and will not hinder any day-to-day activity. Although we highly recommend refraining from physical activity, especially if it involves the treated area for 48 hours after your session.

We need access to the area so please wear something that allows for that or be prepared to remove some clothing to help us access the area. Please stop taking any anti- inflammatory drugs prior to treatment if you were taking them for the condition you would like us to treat as the whole idea of the treatment is to stimulate inflammatory markers to result in a healing effect. If it is prescribed for a systemic condition continue taking your medication as normal.

Then during the session give your practitioner as much feedback as possible

This depends on your tissue response and tolerance. Anywhere between 3-6 treatments are recommended by the literature and are performed between 3-10 days apart. Whilst lots of patients report benefits following their first visit then treatment is cumulative and the healing response take place over a subsequent period of time following your course. We will recommend a course length after your initial exam and we are pretty sure you will be good to go after that!

Lots of private medical companies recognise and cover the cost of shockwave therapy. However it is your duty to find out whether your policy does cover shockwave from the practitioner you are booked in with. You will need to pay for your sessions at the point of treatment and then claim the cost back with your receipt.

Yes these will be discussed at your consultation. If Shockwave isn’t suitable for you or your condition dont worry there are lots of other ways we can help. You will not be charged for a whole course if this is the case just the cost of your consultation with your practitioner.

These are the absolute contraindications for radial shockwave:-

• Pregnancy over the stomach and abdomen
• Cancer / malignancy / tumours at the site of treatment

But we also like to be aware of:-

• Open wounds, recent fractures, infections, rashes, swollen and inflamed tissues
• Cancer
• Recent steroid injections to site
• Under 18 – growth plates
• Anti-coagulates
• Allergy to coupling gel
• Allodynia – hyperalgesia
• Epilepsy
• Early post operative tendon repair
• Over joint replacement / over metal or plastic work
• Cardiac pacemaker
• Pregnancy
• Major blood vessels / Major nerves
• Over hormone implants / plastic surgery implants

Simply put our kit is expensive. Both to purchase, operate and maintain. That’s why not many clinics have it.

We have a high-end ASTAR Impactis M+ clinical unit.

We feel we have priced our courses very competitively and compared to the loss of earnings from surgery, the cumulative cost of to date for some of multiple unsuccessful therapy sessions or the invasiveness of injection or surgery we feel it’s worth a shot.