Shockwave therapy is one of the recent advances in sports medicine. It utilizes highly focused sound waves to increase the blood flow in damaged tissue and to decrease inflammation. It has also been shown to reduce pain. Once the patient is sedated the area is cleaned, a gel is applied to the skin and a completely non-invasive probe is used to direct a focused beam of sound bursts at a calculated depth for the affected tissue. Shock wave therapy has been shown to be helpful with numerous conditions such as back pain, sacroiliac issues, osteo-arthritis as well as foot and navicular pain.  The area receiving treatment is cleaned and a transducer gel is applied to transmit the soundwaves. A transducer that emits the highenergy sound waves is placed on the area receiving the therapy. The sound waves provide a rapid increase in pressure as they travel through tissues, stimulating blood vessels and the healing process. -Author: Alison Morton, DVM, MSpVM, DACVS, DACVSMR
If your horse has sustained a soft-tissue injury then shockwave therapy can help with the healing process! Shockwave therapy is administered to tendons or muscles through the skin with a small, handheld device. It jump-starts the body’s ability to regenerate new tissue and also decreases pain by stimulating nerves at the site of the injury. It also increases circulation around the injured soft tissues and breaks down calcified deposits. Shockwave does this by sending pulses of energy through the injured area. It’s a non-surgical option that can help tough cases heal.