How to Use Ultrasound to Heal From Injury

Have you been injured in an auto accident or injured playing sports? Do you have soft-tissue injuries as a result, or injuries in the cartilage that connects to bone? If so, ultrasound may be useful in the healing process of your injuries. Ultrasound uses sound waves, which warm the muscle. This relaxes the tissue, easing tightness and muscle spasms.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Physical therapist
• Health insurance or ability to pay for physical therapy
• Ultrasound equipment available at the physical therapist

How to Get to Physical Therapy from Injury

1. If you are injured, you may first go to the hospital. Once you receive immediate care, you are then directed to follow up in a couple of days with your regular doctor. The doctor will then determine a course of treatment, based on your injuries, to help you recover.

2. Often, you will find it necessary to be proactive in your treatment. Doctors often send you on your way with painkillers after your initial visit with a soft-tissue injury. Ask the doctor early on about treatment such as physical therapy.

3. If your doctor thinks you could benefit from physical therapy, mention ultrasound treatment. If the doctor isn't familiar, be prepared with articles that discuss the benefits and uses for soft-tissue injuries and joint inflammation, muscle sprains and tendinitis.

4. Sometimes the doctor will prescribe physical therapy and allow the therapist to decide the course of treatment. If the doctor wants to dictate treatment, he/she will have to put ultrasound treatment directly on the treatment plan.

5. 
   Peaceful images to help your recovery.

   If the doctor allows the physical therapist to decide on treatments, discuss ultrasound with the physical therapist. You may have to shop to find a physical therapy office that uses this treatment, although most seem to have this equipment.

How Ultrasound is Used in Physical Therapy

6. Once you have been given a referral for a physical therapy, and either the doctor or physical therapist has recommended ultrasound for use in your treatment, you are ready to begin ultrasound treatment. This will most likely be combined with exercises to do during physical therapy and at home.

7. Most likely, if you have soft-tissue injuries, you will be given stretching exercises, followed by strengthening exercises, as part of your treatment.

8. The ultrasound treatment is done at the physical therapist's office. Although you can perform exercises at home, ultrasound is only able to be administered by a professional.

9. For the treatment itself, a gel is placed directly onto the injured area. Then, the ultrasound machine is hooked up. It is turned on. The device, which looks like a wand is placed on the injured area.

10. The wand is moved over the injured area. During the treatment, the wand warms up and you may feel a warming sensation. Sound waves in the wand go through your skin and to the injured tissue. Vibrations are brought about by crystals in the head of the wand. The vibration reaches the tissues and causes heat, which allow the injured muscles to relax.

11. Once you have received ultrasound, the injured tissue should relax. This will enable you to tolerate more stretching and strengthening exercises. Healing is also enhanced, as more blood reaches the injured area.

12. The doctor and physical therapist will decide how many sessions of ultrasound to offer. This could be anywhere from 2 to 10 sessions or more. Effectiveness can be monitored by an increase in mobility and flexibility, relaxation of the area and less muscle spasm, and less overall pain in the injured tissues.

Tips & Warnings

• Ultrasound can be used for relaxing cartilage that connects to bone, and even for the bone. Personal experience showed that ultrasound can help cartilage, bone and soft-tissue injury resulting from an auto accident seat belt injury.
• If you have acute inflammation, the physical therapist can generate pulses instead of a continuous transmission of sound waves during the ultrasound therapy.
• Right after ultrasound treatment, you may sense some soreness in the area. This should go away in a day or two at most.
• You will not want to use ultrasound if you have new injuries that are still incredibly painful and sensitive, or if you have a bone fracture or break.
• The sound waves can be increased or decreased during your treatment. You should let the physical therapist know what you can and cannot tolerate. If it feels to be too much, the physical therapist can turn down the ultrasound machine, or if it feels OK, it can be turned up.

Resources

• Article about ultrasound