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Post by JordanB on Jun 8, 2014 17:14:14 GMT 10
Hi tom I really need some adive from someone who knows there stuff regarding ultrasound, I've recently bought one and have been told so many ways to use it it's unreal the man I purchased It off told me to use it every day up to the day before the race then cut it out, but a friend of mine who gets fantastic results Also said use it for 3 days after the dog has run if it's just slight soreness but put water over the greyhound before the ultrasound gel goes on and after the treatment is there any real benefit to that method and do you agree with any of the above metods or do you have a desperate one?
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Post by Tom Meulman on Jun 10, 2014 7:41:57 GMT 10
Hi JordanB,
Sorry about the delay in answering your query.
There are several aspects in relation to ultrasound injury therapy that are not clearly understood by a lot of people.
Yes ultrasound is an extremely effective treatment for most soft tissue injuries, but it should be used as a specific treatment for a specific injury. In other words; the treatment done should only be of such duration and intensity as required by the injury being treated.
At the end of the treatment period there should also be a time allowed for the actual healing to be completed before the particular area is again placed under strain.
Ultrasound therapy improves the healing response of the soft tissue being treated, but does not actually do any healing itself.
My recommendation would be to allow at least half the length of time the particular treatment has taken to allow for healing to take place, and for the tissue to "normalise". Therefore if the injury was severe enough to require 6 days of daily treatments, a further 3 days rest needs to be allowed before the treated tissue is placed under any severe strain.
There is also no benefit to be gained by using ultrasound therapy on a muscle that has no injury. But because ultrasound treatment is extremely effective in reducing muscle spasms, it also has the effect of reducing muscle tone in sound muscle tissue. In most instances this would not be beneficial, and possibly be detrimental as that muscle tissue now has reduced "fitness" to handle its regular workload.
This is also the reason for me recommending that in instances where a severe muscle injury has been treated by the use of ultrasound therapy, further treatment is done with a muscle contracting device such as a TENS unit to re-tone the muscle tissue.
The other aspect of ultrasound treatment is to clearly understand that it is an ultra high soundwave entering the muscle tissue that does the job, and that this soundwave is unable to travel through air and therefore requires a good coupling agent to effectively penetrate the damaged tissue.
While oil was used years ago as a coupling agent, a good ultrasound gel functions far more effectively.
It is also best if there are no liniments of any description mixed with the gel or used as a coupling agent. The reason is twofold; one, it is important that the soundwave travels cleanly through the coupling agent and any particles in the coupling agent will interfere with this. And most important of all is that 99% of all liniments are designed to produce warmth on the surface of the skin, and should not be deeply punched into or through the skin by ultrasound waves as this could cause skin and hair damage, plus any substance in the liniment that does penetrate the skin and enters the blood vessels has to be cleared out of the body by the kidneys.
The additional points to keep in mind when using ultrasound treatments is that in most instances when judging how high to turn the power up that "less is best" so use the minimum setting for the particular injury being treated. Nor does turning the ultrasound up higher in an attempt to shorten the treatment time work. The minimum treatment time is 3 minutes twice daily for most injuries, or alternately once daily for 6 minutes.
Never ever use ultrasound as a treatment for bone injuries, and if treating muscle tissue that is close to a bone surface, or as in the shoulder on top of the shoulder blade, use the pulsed ultrasound function if it is available on your device, or alternately turn the treatment intensity down to 1 watt from the 1.5 to 1.8 watt generally used.
Wetting the treatment area prior to applying the ultrasound gel should help in assuring that air is excluded from the area, could possibly reduce the amount of gel required, and of course needs to be washed off again after each treatment.
I hope I have answered some of your questions.
Cheers,
Tom
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