Shockwave therapy for heel pain

IGeL monitor: shock heels help with heel pain

09/30/2014

Heel pain can have several causes, so the treatment varies as well. In some cases, severe sonic therapy can provide relief if the heel is persistently inflamed and hurts. The side effects of this treatment are low.

Shock wave therapy is „tends to be positive“
If the sinews are persistently inflamed and painful due to overloading of the foot, therapy with violent beats can bring relief. The side effects of this treatment are low. This assessment comes from a team of scientists from the IGeL Monitor. Insured persons receive scientifically founded assessments of so-called self-pay benefits on the non-commercial Internet portal. According to the researchers cut the shock wave therapy while the tennis elbow „tends to be negative“ off, was at the lime shoulder „not clear“ rated, but received the judgment in heel pain with and without heel spurs „tends to be positive“.

Heel pain can be caused, among other things, when the foot is heavily loaded for a long time and inflamed the tendons on the sole of the foot around the heel. As the IgeL monitor states, such complaints are relatively common as they put enormous strain on the foot. Already in people with normal weight, the tendon plate under the foot has to endure 200 to 300 kilos with each step with easy walking, while jogging is much more. However, factors such as being overweight or obese, wearing hard-heeled or high-heeled shoes, exercising, and genetically-induced shortening of the calf or thigh muscle increase the problem and can cause the tendon to become permanently overburdened. Achilles tendon pain is often added, especially during sports. Since behind heel pain can also be diseases such as ankylosing spondylitis or a pinched nerve, the cause should be clarified by a doctor.

Cash registers do not pay for the treatment
In the usual treatment is intended to relieve the heel, so that the inflammation regresses over months. For this, among other things, circulation-promoting footbaths are an option. If the pain does not improve, orthopedic surgeons offer the shock wave therapy in which violent sonic bumps to stimulate healing. However, this therapy is not paid by the statutory health insurance. For patients, this treatment costs between 80 and several hundred euros per session. It is repeated two to four times.

Shockwave therapy has few side effects
The positive effects of shock wave therapy are also supported by scientific studies. According to this, about every second patient gets better after a few weeks and has significantly less pain when sound waves with high energy are used for treatment. In addition, the side effects of short, violent bumps, such as pain, swelling and redness appear to be low overall and pass quickly again. Serious side effects are not known. Shockwave therapy is used for many other ailments, such as patellar pain, buttocks pain or shoulder puncture. (Ad)