Can ultrasound be therapeutic?
The Biophysical Bases for Therapeutic Ultrasound Applications Ultrasonic energy can be a potent modality for generating biological effects. Given sufficient knowledge of the etiology and exposimetry, bioeffects can be planned for therapeutic purposes or avoided in diagnostic applications.
What are the different types of ultrasound therapy?
There are two types of therapeutic ultrasound: thermal and mechanical. In thermal ultrasound, the wand causes the skin and the muscles to vibrate and heat up. Thermal ultrasound therapy is used to treat stretch pain, soft tissue pain, and other musculoskeletal issues.
What is the application of ultrasound in medicine?
Summary Applications of ultrasound in medicine for therapeutic purposes have been an accepted and beneficial use of ultrasonic biological effects for many years. Low power ultrasound of about 1 MHz frequency has been widely applied since the 1950s for physical therapy in conditions such as tendinitis or bursitis.
What's new in therapeutic ultrasound?
Prospective new methods of therapeutic ultrasound are mentioned at the end, including new microbubble- or cavitation-based treatment methods. Lastly, the reader is reminded about important safety considerations and general guidelines are presented.
What type of patients use ultrasound therapy?
Therapeutic ultrasound is often used for treating chronic pain and promoting tissue healing. It may be recommended if you experience any of the following conditions: carpal tunnel syndrome. shoulder pain, including frozen shoulder.
Why do they use ultrasound in physical therapy?
The sound waves, or ultrasound rays, penetrate within the body generating heat increasing blood flow, and relaxing muscles and connective tissues thereby reducing pain and muscle spasms. The stimulation of these tissues in this way encourages repair and can greatly reduce the healing time of certain injuries.
Can ultrasound be used as therapy?
Ultrasound therapy is a treatment used by physical therapists or occupational therapists to relieve pain and to promote tissue healing. While ultrasound therapy is not effective for all chronic pain conditions, it may help reduce your pain if you have any of the following: Osteoarthritis. Myofascial pain syndrome.
When do we use ultrasound?
Ultrasound is used for many reasons, including to:View the uterus and ovaries during pregnancy and monitor the developing baby's health.Diagnose gallbladder disease.Evaluate blood flow.Guide a needle for biopsy or tumor treatment.Examine a breast lump.Check the thyroid gland.Find genital and prostate problems.More items...•
What is the difference between ultrasound and laser therapy?
One of the biggest differences between cold laser and ultrasound therapy is that ultrasound creates heat and cold laser does not. Because of this, ultrasound has more limits and contradictions of how it can be used.
What is interferential therapy?
Interferential current therapy (ICT, or sometimes IFC) is the most common type of electrical muscle stimulation used to treat chronic pain resulting from surgery, injury or trauma. The end goal for using ICT as part of a physical therapy or rehab program is to relieve pain and help patients heal faster.
How is therapeutic ultrasound produced?
Characteristics of therapeutic ultrasound. Ultrasound consists of inaudible high‐frequency mechanical vibrations created when a generator produces electrical energy that is converted to acoustic energy through mechanical deformation of a piezoelectric crystal located within the transducer.
What is the frequency of therapeutic ultrasound?
Beyond this upper limit, the mechanical vibration is known as ultrasound. The frequencies used in therapy are typically between 1.0 and 3.0 MHz (1 MHz = 1 million cycles per second).
How do you explain therapeutic ultrasound to a patient?
0:5916:14Okay what would be our goal for them if they had muscle tightness well we of course want the musclesMoreOkay what would be our goal for them if they had muscle tightness well we of course want the muscles to relax. Right along the same lines if the patient has pain in a particular.
Is ultrasound diagnostic or therapeutic?
It's best known for its use during pregnancy as the primary method to visualize fetuses developing in the womb. Medical ultrasound falls into two broad categories: diagnostic and therapeutic.
What types of ultrasounds are there?
Types of Ultrasounds (Sonograms)Abdominal Ultrasound. ... Pelvic Ultrasound Imaging. ... Transabdominal. ... Transvaginal Ultrasound. ... Transrectal. ... Obstetric Ultrasound Imaging. ... Carotid & Abdominal Aorta Ultrasound Imaging.
What is therapeutic ultrasound and diagnostic ultrasound?
Therapeutic ultrasound is defined as the use of ultrasound for the treatment of diseased or injured organs or bodily structures and is quite distinct from diagnostic ultrasound.
How Does Ultrasound Work?
Inside your PT's ultrasound unit is a small crystal. When an electrical charge is applied to this crystal, it vibrates rapidly, creating piezoelect...
How Is Ultrasound applied?
Ultrasound is performed with a machine that has an ultrasound transducer (sound head). A small amount of gel is applied to the particular body part...
Contraindications to Using Ultrasound
There are some instances where you should not use ultrasound at all. These contraindications to ultrasound may include: 1. Over open wounds 2. Over...
What Does Ultrasound Feel like?
While you are receiving an ultrasound treatment, you will most likely not feel anything happening, except perhaps a slight warming sensation or tin...
Common Injuries Treated With Ultrasound
Usually, orthopedic injuries are treated with ultrasound. These may include: 1. Bursitis 2. Tendonitis 3. Muscle strains and tears 4. Frozen should...
Caution During Ultrasound
If you are going to physical therapy and are getting an ultrasound, you should know that many studies have found that ultrasound offers little bene...
What are the biological effects of ultrasound?
Other potential mechanisms for biological effects of ultrasound include the direct action of the compressional, tensile, and shear stresses. In addition, second-order phenomena, which depend on transmitted ultrasound energy, include radiation pressure, forces on particles and acoustic streaming.
What frequency is ultrasound used for?
Low power ultrasound of about 1 MHz fre quency has been widely applied since the 1950s for physical therapy in conditions such as tendinitis or bursitis.
How many lithotripters are there in the USA?
Over 50 lithotripter devices have been on the USA market. Fluoroscopy is used for targeting the acoustic focus on the stone in the USA, although some lithotripters have B-mode ultrasound for targeting. The first lithotripters were electrohydraulic, using an underwater spark source and a reflector.
What is ultrasound heating?
Ultrasound-induced heating is the result of the absorption of ultrasonic energy in biological tissue. For diagnostic ultrasound, temperature elevations and the potential for bioeffects are kept relatively low or negligible (Fowlkes et al. 2008) by carefully described indications for use, applying the ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) principal, limited temporal average intensities, and generally short exposure durations. Therapeutic applications of ultrasonic heating therefore either utilize longer durations of heating with unfocused beams, or utilize higher intensity (than diagnostic) focused ultrasound. The use of unfocused heating, for example in physical therapy to treat highly absorbing tissues such as bone or tendon, can be moderated to produce enhanced healing without injury. Alternatively, the heat can be concentrated by focused beams until tissue is coagulated for the purpose of tissue ablation. Ultrasound heating which can lead to irreversible tissue changes follows an inverse time-temperature relationship. Depending on the temperature gradients, the effects from ultrasound exposure can include mild heating, coagulative necrosis, tissue vaporization, or all three.
What is a high intensity focused ultrasound?
High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU, or HIFUS) was initially studied clinically for thermal ablation of inoperable brain tissue for Par kinson’s disease (Fry et al. 1954; Kennedy et al 2003). In a HIFU system, a signal generator is connected to a focusing transducer, which produces very high local intensities of >1 kW/cm2of 0.5–7 MHz ultrasound at the focal spot. The lesion produced in tissue typically may be a few mm in diameter and in length. The position of this spot must be carefully controlled and moved in order to ablate larger volumes of tissue. This method is approved by the FDA in the USA for treating uterine fibroids (Tempany et al. 2003), cardiac ablation (Ninet et al. 2005), visceral soft tissue ablation (Klingler et al. 2008), and aesthetic treatment to lift the eyebrow (Gliklich et al. 2007; Alam et al. 2010). In addition, a method was developed and was approved for treatment of glaucoma using HIFU (Burgess et al. 1986).
When was ultrasound first used in physical therapy?
Physical Therapy. Unfocused beams of ultrasound for physical therapy were the first clinical application, dating to the 1950s , which often has been referred to simply as “therapeutic ultrasound” (Robertson and Baker, 2001). This modality now typically has a base unit for generating an electrical signal and a hand-held transducer.
How long does a flat transducer therapy last?
Therapy involves multiple treatments of 20 min each day by applying the large flat transducer to the site of injury and continuing treatment for periods of months. Although the process appears to be safe and effective, the therapy is slow and its use is predominantly limited to management of non-healing fractures.
Why do we use ultrasound?
But, it's most commonly used to solve problems in muscle tissue. The heating effect of the ultrasound helps to heal muscle pain and reduces chronic inflammation. . Ultrasound also helps tissue fluids flow better — which means that more lymph passes through the tissues.
What determines how ultrasound physical therapy is done?
The frequency and intensity of the ultrasound, the duration of the procedure, and the area of its application all determine how ultrasound physical therapy is done.
How does ultrasound work?
How Ultrasound Physical Therapy Works. The ultrasound machine works by sending an electric current through crystals found in the ultrasound probe — also known as the ultrasound wand. The probe vibrates, causing waves to travel through the skin to the body underneath. The waves transfer energy to the tissues to cause the desired effects.
What is mechanical ultrasound?
In mechanical ultrasound — also known as cavitation ultrasound therapy — the waves created by the ultrasound create pressure differences in tissue fluids, which lead to the forming of bubbles.
What is ultrasound in 2021?
Medically Reviewed by Dan Brennan, MD on June 23, 2021. Ultrasound — or ultrasonography — is an imaging technique used not just during pregnancy but also for many medical procedures. Ultrasound physical therapy is a branch of ultrasound, alongside diagnostic ultrasound and pregnancy imaging. It's used to detect and treat various musculoskeletal ...
Why is ultrasound not used in pregnancy?
Therapeutic ultrasound is not used for problems near a pregnant woman’s womb because it could put the pregnancy at risk. It's also generally not used over the spine, eyes, pacemakers, other implants, and areas with active infections. The procedure is generally painless and easy to do.
What are the two types of ultrasound?
There are two types of therapeutic ultrasound: thermal and mechanical.
When did ultrasounds start being used?
The application of Ultrasound for medical treatment has been around in the United States since the late 1940s.
How low should ultrasound energy be?
Should be as low as possible between 2 and 6- less risk of damage to tissue from areas of concentrated ultrasound energy
How deep is ultrasound?
Ultrasound is a deep heating modality. At an intramuscular depth of 3 cm, a 10-minute hot pack treatment yielded an increase of 0.8ºC, whereas at this same depth, 1 MHz ultrasound has raised muscle temperature nearly 4ºC in 10 minutes.
What is cavitation in ultrasound?
Cavitation-. The formation, growth, and pulsation of gas-filled bubbles caused by ultrasound. It may be stable or unstable. Stable cavitation the bubbles do not burst but in unstable cavitation the bubbles burst which produce large local pressure and temperature increases and cause free radical formation.
How deep is the energy absorbed at 3.0 MHz?
At 3.0 MHz, most energy is absorbed within a depth of 2 cm.
How many Hz is the human ear sensitive to?
The human ear is sensitive only to sound frequencies between 16 Hz and 20,000 Hz.
What vibrations can produce both non-thermal and non-thermal physiologic effects?
Inaudible, acoustic vibrations of high frequency that can produce both non-thermal and non-thermal physiologic effects
What is the therapeutic effect of ultrasound?
One of the therapeutic effects for which ultrasound has been used is in relation to tissue healing. It is suggested that the application of US to injured tissues will, amongst other things, speed the rate of healing & enhance the quality of the repair.
How does ultrasound work?
Ultrasonic waves or sound waves of a high frequency that is not audible to the human ear are produced by means of mechanical vibration in the metal treatment head of the ultrasound machine. The treatment head is then moved over the surface of the skin in the region of the injury transmitting the energy into the tissues.
How long does it take for an ultrasonic to work?
This is moved continuously over the skin for approximately 3-5 mins. Treatments may be repeated 1-2 times daily in more acute injuries and less frequently in chronic cases.
How does ultrasound affect collagen?
As the ultrasound waves pass from the treatment head into the skin they cause the vibration of the surrounding tissues, particularly those that contain collagen. This increased vibration leads to the production of heat within the tissue. In most cases this cannot be felt by the patient themselves. This increase in temperature may cause an increase in the extensibility of structures such as ligaments, tendons, scar tissue and fibrous joint capsules. In addition, heating may also help to reduce pain and muscle spasm and promote the healing process.
Is therapeutic ultrasound still being disputed?
To date, there is still very little evidence to explain how ultrasound causes a therapeutic effect in injured tissue. Nevertheless practitioners world wide continue to use this treatment modality relying on personal experience rather than scientific evidence. Below are a number of the theories by which ultrasound is proposed to cause a therapeutic effect.
Can ultrasound affect tissue repair?
As ultrasound is thought to affect the tissue repair process and so it is also highly possible that it may affect diseased tissue tissue in an abnormal fashion. In addition the proposed increase in blood may also function in spreading malignancies around the body. Therefore a number of contraindications should be followed when using therapeutic ultrasound:
What is the most common condition that can be treated with ultrasound?
The most common conditions that can be treated using Ultrasound therapy are: TENDONITIS / TENDINITIS: It is a general term that is used to define the inflammation of the tendon tissue that connects the muscle to the bone. This is the most common cause of soft-tissue pain.
Why is ultrasound therapy used?
The application of Ultrasound Therapy helps in increasing the blood flow of a localized area in order to reduce the swelling and inflammation in that area. It is also used to enhance the healing of a bone fracture. 1.
What is the depth of penetration of an ultrasound beam?
Depth of penetration and intensity of the ultrasonic beam is the division of the beam into a near and a far-field. The near and far-fields arise because the wavefronts from different parts of the source have to travel different distances and consequently there is interference between adjacent fronts. At some points, the interference is constructive at other points the interference is destructive. The extent of the near field is of significance in that it is more intense than the far-field and may have a more profound effect in the treatment of certain conditions. The frequency of the ultrasound and radius of the transducer may need to be considered when treating tissues at a depth greater than 6.5cm.
How does ultrasound work?
The procedure begins with the application of gel either on the head of the probe or directly to the skin. This gel basically helps the sound waves to penetrate into the skin evenly.
What is the purpose of a low intensity pulsed ultrasound?
Softening of any existing scar tissue. A low-intensity Pulsed Ultrasound (LIPUS) is used for fracture repair.
How does mechanical ultrasound work?
Mechanical Ultrasound therapy. This therapy uses single the vibration of sound waves to penetrate tissue. It actually causes the expansion and contraction in the tiny gas bubbles of the soft tissues which then helps to reduce the inflammation, reducing tissue swelling and thus decreasing pain in the tissue.
What is the treatment for soft tissue?
1. Thermal Ultrasound Therapy. This therapy involves the continuous transfer of sound waves resulting in small vibrations in the deep tissue molecules. These vibrations increase heat and friction in the molecules. This heating effect results in the increases in the metabolism of the tissue cells resulting in the healing of the soft tissues.