Bone fractures are a common injury that that is often difficult for health professionals and patients to deal with as there are limited options available for treatment. With bone fractures there can be heavy impact due to socioeconomic costs, personal costs and decrease in quality of life. Bone fractures can really take your time away from doing things that you need to do and love doing.
Fractures in general take up to 6-8 weeks in general for it to heal. During this time of recovery, you are often restricted in your ability to work, perform any physical activity and socialise. To make things worse, not all fractures heal at an ideal rate, and delayed healing which can really disturb your plans for work, family and social life.
So how can Physio Ready accelerate bone healing?
At Physio Ready we can help with bone healing using Low Intensity Pulsed Ultrasound (LIPUS). LIPUS is different to the traditional ultrasound that we use in medical imaging medical diagnosis. LIPUS is set on a different setting and used for therapeutic purposes to stimulate soft tissue healing.
The waves administered by LIPUS induce micromechanical stress in the fracture site, culminating in the stimulation of various molecular and cellular responses involved in fracture healing (Claes & Willi2, 2007).
Applying 60 mins of LIPUS per week can accelerate soft tissue healing (bone, ligaments, muscles and tendons). By promoting cell activity at the site of the fracture it will accelerate the soft tissue regeneration and inhibit inflammatory responses. This is extremely beneficial in those who are experiencing delays in healing or for those who are not able to have an operation due to a particular condition to fix the fracture.
The application of a probe to the site of injury is all that is required for LIPUS. Patients will not experience any discomfort or pain during the process. Obviously with any soft tissue injury or bone fracture appropriate protection, non-weight bearing, and time off activity is required to allow optimal healing to occur along with the application of LIPUS.
Our physiotherapists at Physio Ready will run through a detailed assessment and work out what you will need to give you the best outcome and recovery.
If you need help for your delayed bone healing, soft tissue injury or any symptoms of pain and stiffness contact Physio Ready on (02) 9249 9122 or (02) 8622 1681 to book in an appointment with one of our expert physiotherapists today.
Reference
The enhancement of bone regeneration by ultrasound. Claes L, Willie B Prog Biophys Mol Biol. 2007 Jan-Apr; 93(1-3):384-98.