Ultrasound Therapy for Muscle Strains and Sprains

Therapeutic ultrasound is a specialized physical therapy method that uses mechanical energy to promote the healing process. It can be used as a way to manage or relieve pain, treat soft tissue injuries, and improve your ability to perform daily activities.

If you are suffering from pain or a recent injury, ultrasound treatments may help you.

Discover the many benefits of therapeutic ultrasound for treating strains and sprains. Find out how ultrasound treatment works and if it's a good option for your skeletal muscle injury.

How is Ultrasound Therapy Used in Modern Medicine?

Ultrasound therapy is a non-invasive medical treatment that uses high-frequency sound waves to produce deep heat in the tissues of the body. It is commonly used to treat a variety of conditions, including:

• Musculoskeletal injuries such as tendinitis, bursitis, and muscle strains.
• Chronic pain such as lower back pain and osteoarthritis.
• Soft tissue healing such as wound healing and tissue repair.
• Physical therapy to increase blood flow and promote healing.
• Muscle spasms and sprains.

It is also used as a diagnostic tool to create images of internal organs and structures, such as the liver, gallbladder, and thyroid gland.

Ultrasound therapy is considered to be a safe and effective treatment option with few side effects. However, it should not be used over certain areas such as blood clots, malignancies, infected areas, and certain areas of bone.

Diagnosing Your Muscle Strains and Sprains

To diagnose a strain or sprain, your doctor will do an examination and ask how it happened. During the examination, your doctor will touch the injured skeletal muscle, inspect for swelling, and test your range of motion.

Your doctor will also collect information on your previous medical history to see if you've had the same injury before and what medications you may be taking.

You may need to undergo diagnostic tests to confirm a sprain or strain.

Sprains — X-rays to make sure there is no fracture. You can't see ligaments on X-rays, but doctors may want to look at the joint.

Strains — X-rays to detect a fracture, even though you can't see soft tissues like muscles or tendons under an X-ray. Your doctor may order an ultrasound or MRI to determine the extent of the damage to your injured tissue.

Common Symptoms of Strains and Sprains

Sprains and strains can happen almost anywhere in your body, including your lower back.

Sprains occur when a joint twists in a weird position or bends too far. For example, an ankle sprain occurs due to a twisted ankle, and the ligaments attached around that joint stretch too much.

Symptoms of a sprain include inflammation and tenderness of the joint, bruising, and stiffness.

See a doctor if your joint looks out of its place or your symptoms don't go away in a few days.

Symptoms of a strain may include sudden muscle pain, muscle spasm, sore muscles, pain that may ease with rest, and muscle weakness.

A mild strain may cause some pain and weakness.

Severe strains involve much (even complete) tearing. People often hear the muscle "pop" when the injury happens. This may lead to extreme pain and inability to use that muscle.

A severe strain injury is an emergency. You should see a doctor right away.

Benefits of Therapeutic Ultrasound

Ultrasound treatment can be used for a wide range of conditions and will help with the following:

Reduce Muscle Pain

For starters, therapeutic ultrasound can help relieve the pain you’re experiencing in your muscle injuries.

While healing your body’s deep tissue, the ultrasound also decreases muscle spasms. Spasms and muscle tightness can connect back to the root cause of your pain.

You should know the physical therapist in charge of your therapy can make a difference, too. With decreased pain as an initial effect, ultrasound prepares your muscles for additional therapeutic treatments.

This can make the treatments more effective in pain relief.

Relax Muscular Tissue Tension

According to the World Health Organization, musculoskeletal conditions are the second-largest contributor to disabilities worldwide.

Musculoskeletal pain occurs when there’s damage to your muscle tissue. While general wear and tear can cause this damage, trauma makes an impact, too. That includes:

• Auto accidents
• Falls
• Fractures
• Dislocations
• Sprains
• Direct blows
• Jerking movements

Prolonged immobilization and repetitive movements can cause chronic pain, too.

Ultrasound can give your tissues the deep heat they need to relieve tissue tension. In fact, ultrasound therapy affects soft tissue cell metabolism. When ultrasound increases blood circulation, it makes the cells more receptive to healing fluids.

As a result, therapeutic ultrasounds might help treat surgical wounds and soft tissue lesions, too.

Increase Blood Flow

Get your blood pumping! Increased blood flow can help reduce inflammation around the injured muscles. It reduces chronic inflammation, too, which is associated with several musculoskeletal injuries and health issues (including arthritis).

If you have a fresh injury with acute inflammation, your physical therapist can set the ultrasound to pulse.

Instead of generating a heating effect, this gets your blood pumping to reduce pain.

Breakdown of Muscle Scar Tissue

The acoustic effect of ultrasound energy creates tiny micro-vibrations. These vibrations affect the fibers that cause scar tissue to form.

Breaking down scar tissue can help increase your range of motion. It also helps you maintain that range of motion and promote tendon healing for longer relief.

Book Your Therapeutic Ultrasound Appointment Today!

Therapeutic ultrasound may accelerate healing and increase the effectiveness of your physical therapy regimen.

If you would like to discuss the possibility of this modality with a physical therapist in Tampa FL, give us a call to start your treatments as soon as possible.

Schedule a therapeutic ultrasound appointment with our doctor at Palm Wellness Center at (813) 443-5370 or visit our website at www.palmwellness.center.