Knee Osteoarthritis (KOA) is the most common form of arthritis worldwide. The cause of the diseases is a deterioration in the cartilage around a person’s knee joints. Some of the current treatments for KOA include physical therapy, medication, cortisone injections, and surgery. However, the effectiveness of these treatments is debatable, and may have negative long-term side effects.
One alternative that has been growing in popularity is Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy (ESWT). This treatment involves the administration of electrical waves deep into the damaged tissues which cause noticeable improvements to your cartilage and bones.
Shockwave Therapy works because it slows down the deterioration of your cartilage while also making your cartilage and bones stronger. No negative side effects have been found with this form of treatment.
To investigate whether ESWT would significantly improve function for people with Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) a team of researchers conducted a study of 30 patients aged 45-60. The researchers only admitted participants who struggled with severe KOA and split them into two groups.
One group would get conventional physical therapy, while the other group got physical therapy plus 4 sessions with a Chattanooga ESWT instrument (the same machine we use in our clinic).
After the 4 week study was conducted, data from the 30 participants showed the group who got Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy experienced an 81.92% reduction in pain and inflammation. While the other group only saw a 48.15% improvement.
The greater improvement in the group that received ESWT can likely be attributed to shockwave’s effect of inducing revascularization and stem cell growth.
Conclusion: Considering that the most common form of treatments for chronic Knee Osteoarthritis may be ineffective or result in a host of negative side effects, Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy (ESWT) is an effective alternative with none of the downsides.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11254909/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11254909/pdf/41598_2024_Article_67511.pd
