Electrotherapy
The Body Clinic uses ultrasound in the acute stages of injuries to help accelerate healing processes. Ultrasound is only useful when injured tissue is inflamed (hot, swollen and red) which is generally only within the first two-to-three weeks post injury. After this stage, ultrasound is not always effective and we switch to other modalities as required.
We believe that electrotherapy modalities such as ultrasound, interferential and short wave diathermy are completely overused in musculoskeletal medicine. Therefore, we only use them when needed. Most of these machines provide a thermal effect to injured tissue, which may help the healing process. We will spend more of our time with you doing hands on treatment and teaching you exercises to ensure your underlying movement abnormalities are corrected rather than just merely treating your symptoms.
In a small minority of patients with particularly severe or persistent pain we will loan a TENS machine; TENS is a small portable unit which can clip on to your waistband and it works by helping prevent pain messages from injured tissue from reaching the brain. We always aim to get you back in control of your pain as soon as possible.
What We Can Do
Our physiotherapists are highly trained in a wide range of modalities, which most patients will find effective at providing pain-relief and restoring function. Our individually tailored treatment protocols will typically involve one or more of the following modalities.
