A shock to the system

Shockwave therapy is becoming increasingly valuable in veterinary medicine, with high-grade lasers also beginning to be more widely used. Robyn Graham MRCVS explains

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EXTRACORPOREAL shockwave therapy (ESWT) has been one of the mainstay adjunctive therapies of musculoskeletal injuries for some time in horses, and is becoming increasingly popular as more practices provide the service and the machines become more readily available. Its ability to enhance the body’s own reparative processes in a safe and non-invasive manner is seen as a huge advantage.

Originally developed as a method of lithotripsy – treatment to break up kidney and bladder stones – in human medicine, the shock waves were found to have the unexpected benefit of resulting in increased bone density of the pelvis.

This increase in bone turnover was first used to speed up fracture healing and has subsequently been found to be beneficial as an adjunctive therapy for a variety of musculoskeletal injuries.

Some common uses in human medicine include treatment of plantar fasciitis and heel spurs, tendinopathies of the rotator cuff of the shoulder and tennis elbow.

Patients with these conditions reported reduced pain and swelling, and demonstrated an improved range of motion and return to functional use in a shorter time period than those treated with conventional therapy.

As with many successful human treatments, this has subsequently led to the use of shockwave therapy in veterinary medicine as well, with tendinopathies, muscle strains, osteoarthritis, splints and poorly healed fractures – just to name a few – being treated successfully in horses for a number of years now.