ESWT and Your Heels

Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy treatments use high-powered sound waves to end chronic heel pain without painful surgery. This treatment is now being offered by our office as an alternative to heel surgery. The discovery of ESWT came about somewhat by accident. Shock wave therapy is used regularly by urologists to break up and disperse kidney stones. Urologists began reporting that patients who has kidney stones treated showed increased bone density and new tissue growth. This led to studies for using shock wave therapy for soft tissue injuries and the results were amazing- 75-80% of patients with soft tissue injuries were reported to be healed or greatly improved following ESWT.

Shock wave therapy works by purposely targeting trauma at the pain site. This stimulates the diseased tissue and activates your body's own healing process. Blood and oxygen rush to the site, activating a metabolic response that fosters healing by the growth of new connective tissue. This is what is damaged and torn when you have plantar fasciitis or heel spur pain. The most important and exciting aspects of ESWT are that it ends the pain, the procedure is not painful, there isn't a lengthy recovery period, and there are no side effects.