A long used, well established, therapy in the treatment of injuries is ultrasound. It is really no more than a high pitch sound wave but at a much, much higher pitch (1,000,000 Hz) than people could ever hear. People often confuse the ultrasound treatment we use to for injuries with the type of ultrasound used to make picture of babies in the womb. That is ultrasound diagnosis, a much lower frequency sound wave that bounces back from structures in the body to a computer that makes images from the beneficial effects for the treatment of the musculo-skeletal conditions we chiropractors see.
All sound is, of course, a vibration. As a high pitched vibration goes through soft tissues the molecules in the soft tissue in turn vibrate – bouncing off each other creating friction heat. Like the therapy shortwave diathermy, ultrasound unites do not give off heat. The heat is generated inside the body as the sound wave goes through it. Also, like shortwave diathermy, ultrasound is classified as deep heat. It treats much deeper into the body than most other types of heat like heating pads or moist heat packs, making ultrasound an excellent choice for treating injuries of the back and joints like the hip and shoulder.
Some beneficial effects of ultrasound therapy include:
| > reducing muscle spasms by heat and “micro massage” effect |
| > stimulates healing by speeding up metabolism to decrease recovery time |
| > reduces nerve root irritation |
| > breaks down and disperses calcium deposits |