Therapeutic Ultrasound is a treatment modality used to provide deep heating to soft tissues in the body. These tissues include muscles, tendons, joints, and ligaments.
Low frequency ultrasound waves are used therapeutically to deposit energy into tissue to induce various biological effects. Our use of ultrasound can induce effects not only through heating by setting the machine to emit a continuous wave, or through non-thermal mechanisms of pulsed waves to create ultrasonic cavitation, gas body activation, mechanical stress to improve chronic soft tissue conditions, such as tendinitis and bursitis.
What to expect with an ultrasound treatment
The therapist will check skin integrity and apply a water based coupling gel for transmission of sound waves through layers of soft tissue and move the sound head in a circular motion over an injured or painful area. The objective is to warm tendons, muscle and other tissue to improve blood flow and accelerate healing. The coupling medium can also include lidocaine or cortisol to reduce inflammation by delivering these drugs transdermally through the sound head in a process called phonophoresis.
