Chiropractor offers shocking new treatment
Staff writer
For those experiencing joint pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, or tendinopathy, Fox Chiropractic has a new treatment best described as shocking.
Troy Fox initially purchased a shockwave therapy machine for himself, hoping it might solve pain in his right shoulder caused by a motocross accident he sustained at age 16.
He previously experimented with stem cell injections, but that treatment didn’t alleviate his pain.
From there, he looked into shockwave therapy. The device he eventually purchased, made by PerVita Medical, cost more than $10,000.
“If it saves my shoulder, it’s worth it,” he recalled telling himself.
After he began shocking his shoulder, Fox realized the breadth of the machine’s utility.
He went to a program in Atlanta to learn more about what shockwave therapy could be used for and learn protocols behind each treatment.
“This unit can treat everything from a non-union bone fracture to a tendon issue, to a muscle issue, to a bone issue,” he said. “Or it can be used with a different tip and applicator on it to produce increased collagen in the face, instead of fillers. Plastic surgeons are using this technology.”
He said shockwave therapy had greatly helped his own shoulder.
“After a day or two, my pain level decreased,” he said. “I was, to be honest, kind of shocked.”
So how do shockwave machines work?
Fox has two in his chiropractor’s office. His original device delivers a “focused” shockwave. Another unit gives out a “radial” shockwave.
The “focused” shockwave sends out a precise pulse. It uses an electromagnetic wand filled with water to deliver shocks with a loud snapping noise.
Fox acknowledged the machine’s slightly threatening aura.
“There’s another company that calls their machines Softwave,” he said. “They changed the name of it to make it sound more agreeable.”
The shockwaves, Fox said, are more uncomfortable than painful. He noted that the machine needed to deliver some discomfort to produce its positive effects.
“It delivers a high-speed ultrasonic pulse into the tissue,” he said. “It causes a little bit of microtrauma.”
These pulses essentially trick the body into healing itself. The body brings new stem cells into the area and produces collagen, neovascularization (new avenues of blood flow), and human growth hormone.
Shockwave technology is still new to the medical world, and such treatments are mostly unapproved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow) and plantar fasciitis are the only conditions the devices are FDA-approved to treat.
A 2022 study published in Biomedicines concluded that “to verify the effectiveness and safety of this therapeutic approach, further clinical studies aimed at the explanation of its therapeutic mechanisms are required.”
The same study also noted that shockwave therapy “has become the procedure of choice” to remove kidney stones, and that evidence has shown it can help with erectile dysfunction.
The Mayo Clinic is using radial shockwave therapy to treat patients with musculoskeletal disorders as well as neurological disorders.
Fox’s radial shockwave machine sends less precise shocks, which broaden outward in the body. He compared it to a raindrop hitting a pond.
This type of shockwave works better on shallow human surfaces like hands and feet. It generally is used to treat carpal tunnel syndrome and tendinopathies.
Fox said shockwave treatments had been working well for his patients.
“We get about 85% response from every tissue except bone-on-bone knees,” he said.
Bone-on-bone knee problems have a 50% success rate, he said.
Shockwaves also can be used to determine the exact location of an injury. The procedure is called “mapping.”
“When you send an ultrasound pulse into tissue that’s no bueno, it’s uncomfortable,” Fox said. “It’s literally X marks the spot.”
After a mapping session, Fox schedules treatment with a patient. The sessions take place once a week and last 15 minutes. During that time, about 300 pulses are sent into the body.
A college athlete with elbow pain might undergo two sessions. An elderly person with bone-on-bone knees might need as many as 12 visits.
“I don’t want anybody to come in here with an expectation,” Fox said. “The truth of the matter is, it may fail for anyone. But our results have been pretty good.”
The technology has changed his practice forever, Fox said.
“There’s never been something like this,” he said. “In my own estimation, about every 100 years, you get something that comes along that just kind of blows everything else out of the water. This is kind of it.”