A new method was just introduced to our scientific staff. This shock wave therapy 'couch' should be able to prevent and therapy back pain. It is also supposed to preservate and enhance muscle mass. Honestly, from a scientific PoV I am not convinced by an increase of muscle mass due to shock-wave therapy - additionally it is not a common method in Germany, yet. Does somebody have any experience in working with such 'whole Body shock waves'?
Try looking for Julia Greve's profile. She has experience on that in the field of rehabilitation. As for muscle mass increase... I'm afraid you're right, no miracles so far!
Hi,
I have been using ESWT for 15 years now; using the Ossatron under anesthesia and using the Well Wave and Elvation unit in-office. There is substantial data on the subject and effectiveness is strong with proper use and followup protocols., However, I have never heard of the "couch", but would speculate that such diffusion of sound waves would decrease the effectiveness substantially, since much of the effects of sound waves depends on how well one can focus/concentrate it. See attached for an article on the dose-dependent effect of ESWT and the biological mechanisms.
Ed
The problem is that we do not know the source of pain in 90 % of the cases with LBP.
In patients with spondylolisthesis (instability), spinal canal stenosis and acute herniated dics LBP is with clear origin.
So I do not believe it is justified to apply shock wave therapy where the etiology and pathophysiology are not identified. Immediately, there follow the questions: What do we reach for with the shock wave therapy ? What is the rationale in similar unclear cases ?
In my opinion this should be experimental therapy. I do not recommend it.
Thank you for your comments and hints to this Topic.
I recently had a discussion with many Trainers of olympic top Teams (winter sports) as well as physiotherapists. Over all, the Impression is quite positive, altough there are no objective results. The current main criteria (typically) are just the feelings of high Level athletes.
Based on the knowledge we have about many top-athletes being locked to new methods and experimental designs, surprisingly this shock wave plate obtains massive of acceptance in the field of match preparation, rehabilitation and stretching.
Honestly we still do not know if there are any negative effects of using such a wave for therpeutic reasons. Therefore, an Investigation will have an experimental design for sure. Nevertheless, after making some experience with this 'Vibration plate', our whole staff can't deny its' relaxing effect at individual frequencies (20hz - 35hz). Especially in the field of multimodal pain therapy this plate might open up new Vistas. Not disregarding the ethical approval of such investigation