Combining shockwave and orthotics can give you a great outcome, as you are utilising the best of different treatments. Below we will talk a little around why they work well together.
Both Shockwave and Orthotics are effective means of managing a foot injury, both acute and chronic.
Shockwave Therapy works to stimulates the body’s natural healing process by working at a cellular level. Therefore you would incorporate Shockwave Therapy if you had an injured muscle or tendon that needed repairing, or had restricted movement in your joints.
Orthotic Therapy is often used to offload a painful site on the foot, or correct structural alignment of the foot, ankle or knee.
Both therapies can be used independently or together.
When both therapies are used together we find that our patients get the best results faster. This is because we are combining manual therapy with physical therapy.
- MANUAL THERAPY = DECREASE THE PAIN. Manual therapy is using the shockwave machine to decrease the pain. When there is less inflammation in the injured tissue we are able to move the joint more freely and start to accelerate the healing phase.
- PHYSICAL THERAPY = OFFLOAD THE PRESSURE AREA. We use orthotic therapy to offload the area that has too much pressure around it which may be causing the pain or injury. By correcting the biomechanics of the body we gain faster results as we are protecting the muscles and tendons from straining, and therefore allowing the body to heal. Orthotics create a stable base for the body to function on, therefore also work as a preventative measure for future injuries
In summary:
Shockwave directly heals the injury at a cellular level and can create immediate relief, while orthotics allow the body to heal by correcting and aligning the foot and ankle, therefore aiding in a faster recovery when used with shockwave.