ESWT or Extracorporeal shockwave therapy is a possible treatment option for the patients with chronic tendon issues. The shock waves are directly focused on the person’s body and the treatment is used for a variety of conditions including Tennis elbow, calcific tendonitis, and plantar fasciitis.

The shockwave treatment can be of two types- High energy and low energy form of shockwave treatment. Plantar fasciitis can be treated by both the forms of therapy. Low energy shockwave treatments are given to the patients as a series of three or more treatments. This type of treatment is not very painful or is mildly painful. Whereas the high energy shockwave treatment is quite painful and are given at one session. Some type of anesthesia will be given to the patients as the treatment is very painful. A general anesthesia or a regional block will be administered for the high energy shockwave treatments.

The working of shockwave therapy is done by inducing the microtrauma to the tissue which is affected by these issues. A healing response will be initiated by this micro trauma in the body. This can cause blood vessel formation and the delivery of nutrients to the affected area is increased. The micro-trauma is then thought to relieve the symptoms of pain and stimulate a repair process.

The shock wave treatment is actually the best treatment for plantar fasciitis. The most important and attractive aspect of the shockwave therapy is that it is a kind of noninvasive option for the issues which appears to be very challenging. Due to these challenges, the Chiropodists are seeking more effective treatment for the patients who do not seem to make an improvement with simpler treatments. The most concerning aspect of surgical therapy of conditions such as plantar fasciitis is that there exist many serious complicated problems. Patients who have continuous pain, infections, and wound problems makes the surgery procedure risky.

Platelet rich plasma and surgical intervention are the different alternative methods for the treatment of chronic plantar fasciitis. But none of them are as effective as the extracorporeal shockwave surgery. Even though it is expensive, the treatment is very effective. One of the main objectives of many hospitals is to determine the effectiveness of shockwave therapy when compared with placebo in the treatment of plantar fasciitis. Many people who find the above mentioned traditional treatments ineffective will definitely benefit from the shock wave therapy. Potential side effects of the shockwave therapy are very less. So if the patients after undergoing the 6 month trial of standard treatments and then fail to help the patients, shock wave therapy will be the only safe method to use alternative to the surgery.

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