Anybody have experience with this type of therapy?
Any advice or sharing of experiences would be very helpful!
Thank you
Eric
From what I read, it appears a viable and useful technique. I was researching its use for bursitis.
However, it’s expensive and not covered by most insurance.
If you are referring to Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy or ESWT??? I had this done several years ago to treat PF in my left foot - at the time it was not covered by insurance so had to pay out of pocket — $3000 – and it was done under General Anesthesia - it was VERY effective and really helped me out.
But not sure of current insurance plans and its efficacy in your case. Hope this helps
Good Luck
Thank you for your response. I am pretty sure the doctor was referring to ESWT. My fiance has been having foot pains for about 5 months (on and off and they ruled out stress fracture…kind of, at least I am not convinced), anyways, she is the one who went to the doctor and he recommended shockwave therapy. I am going to call the doctor tomorrow to get more information. We are both in Korea and have insurance and the cost would be about $150 for one “session”. He wants her to do four sessions.
I did many ESWT for chronic foot/lower leg tendonopathies about 10-11 years ago when more popular (and many insurance payors covered it). It was marginally effective. Some responded very well, others did not. I definitely did NOT see some of the early success/reports (mostly out of Germany) in my experience (perhaps 40-50 cases). There really is no downside though (aside from anesthesia risk - usually IV sedation/MAC). The reason most insurance companies no longer (or ever) pay for it is the lack of evidence in its success/use. Western Medicine (and hence insurance) is very much evidence based so … I still think there is a place for ESWT in chronic tendonopathies, just not entirely sure how/when/where.
I had 3 treatments of shock wave therapy in an attempt to correct a hamstring tendinopathy. Zero effect other than how bizarre it felt during the treatment.
My injury was eventually resolved with a combination of PRP guided injections and PT.
Good luck,
Jim
I have had shockwave done a couple of times in the last few months because of foot pain. As you know, the idea is to cause micro-injuries to the area in order to activate the body’s natural anti-inflammatory response. The first time I did it, it felt like I was being hit with a hammer on my foot. It hurt more than any other therapy I’ve ever had . . . by far. The second time, the area was less inflamed, so it hurt a bit less, but it was still highly uncomfortable.
It’s worth a try. It made me feel better in the short term, and I’ll probably go back next week and get a bit more in an attempt to knock out the last bit of bursitis inflammation I’m carrying. Just know: it may really, really hurt.
Dry needle. I have had it done for a hamstring pull, PF and just today for a crabby rotator cuff from too much swimming. At 55 you startt to fall apart! Dry needle is awesome.
I agree with rroof. I was a resident when this was first introduced in this country, mostly for kidney stones and the patient was submerged into a big tank of water. For recalcitrant plantar faciitis, assuming that’s the diagnosis and it’s accurate, following either an ankle block (several needles below the skin with lidocaine) or other type of anesthesia, a hand held device delivers several hundred “shocks” (but not electric) to the desired area. As noted above, it’s certainly not foolproof, may or may not be paid for, but can be helpful in some cases.
I think I can speak for rroof in that ESWT is not first line therapy for PF and that most folks, with a little patience (some with a lot of patience) can get PF to dissipate over time. It will be interesting to follow this along with other therapies from cortisone-like injections, platelet-rich-plasma injections, surgery of various types, etc. to see if we can come to a single remedy for this foot problem. I’ll bet the answer’s no.
John
I’ve also had it, to treat Achilles Tendonitis. I think the treatment helped, but so did the massages I did every night, along with the rest - it’s tough to factor the benefits of each, but my ‘feeling’ is that it sped-up my recovery.
I believe the concept (covered by others above) is to irritate the area and thus cause the body to pay attention to the area and deliver healing components. If the irritating causes healing, then it definitely worked, as I was in pain during the process - a sweating, grip-the-bed (literally) type pain, but once the device was removed the pain went away, and I was left with a sensation that something had gone on down there.
My Dr. talked about levels, and how he increased the levels through the treatment (I had two visits in total). He mentioned that he kept an ultrasound on the Achilles such that he could aim the wave and not hit the bone, so I got the impression that the wave is very focused; without the ultrasound he detailed that he’d have to stick to lower levels otherwise he’d risk damaging the bone if he hit it - this inspired me to remain very still during the treatment, apart from the fist clenching! The sensation is like someone inside hitting you, bang-bang, with a hammer.