Shock Wave Therapy

Shock wave therapy is proving to be a new and exciting way of treating bone, ligament and tendon injuries in horses. The treatment applies numerous high frequency impulses to the injured tissue whilst the horse is sedated. The shock wave therapy stimulates the horse's own repair systems to create better and faster tissue repair.

SWT, also called extracorporeal radial shock wave therapy, since the shock waves are created external to the body, creates high energy waves in tissues which are similar to miniature lightning explosions which displace mass surrounding them. The technology was first used in human medicine in the 1980's to break up kidney stones so that they could be eliminated from the body without invasive surgery.

SWT has been used at Troytown Hospital for the last 10 years, during which time we have taken part in trials to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the therapy. Since that time numerous studies have been performed which have shown the effectiveness of SWT in both humans and horses. In human patients the treatment is now used routinely for conditions such as tennis elbow, Achilles and patella tendonitis.

Shock wave therapy (SWT) enhances blood flow and cellular metabolism, which helps to stimulate ligament and bone growth and decrease overall rehabilitation time following injury.

The treatment also has the benefit of reducing pain in many chronic injuries such as splint bone fractures and chronic tearing of ligaments. The course of SWT is usually administered every 3 weeks over a 6 to 8 week period on an out-patient basis.

Conditions which may benefit from SWT include sesamoiditis, splints, tendon and ligament injuries, such as high suspensory desmitis (strain of the proximal suspensory ligament), back problems, bony reactions and some cases of fractures.

Shock wave therapy of proximal suspensory desmitis of the fore limb.