Does ultrasound therapy work?

March 9, 2006 8:07 PM

What is the evidence that ultrasound therapy is effective for treating musculoskeletal problems?

I have a new physical therapist who is using this on me, and it seems kinda bogus.

I've tried to research the question, and although many sites discuss what it is and when it is used, I haven't found any that discuss the efficacy of the treatment itself.

What I'm interested in here is solid medical and scientific evidence. Not interested in "alternative therapy" stuff.

posted by Afroblanco to health & fitness (5 comments total)

try a www.pubmed.com search for this. that ought to give you the answers you need.
posted by ruwan at 8:11 PM on March 9, 2006

It reduces swelling and moves fluid out of joints, a fact which is pretty well accepted by every ortho or sports doctor I've ever seen.
posted by fshgrl at 8:30 PM on March 9, 2006

Here you go.
posted by drpynchon at 8:59 PM on March 9, 2006

I am currently in Physical Therapy with ultrasound massage. It certainly feels like its working.

Of course, that could be the electro-stimulations or epidurals as well...

But the therapist (who used to be the honcho therapist for the Angels baseball team) sure claims it works.
posted by roguescout at 10:38 PM on March 9, 2006

Stupid work computer is giving me a hard time with session timeouts.

Anyway: I was skeptical of ultrasound as well. Textbooks say it reduces inflammation, most of the searches I've done recently say that it's hit-or-miss. If I sit and make links up, this post will vanish into the ether, so I'm going to just tell you to go to either www.cochrane.org or www.pubmed.gov and search for combinations of "ultrasound," "anti inflammatory" and "therapy." The Cochrane reviews suggest it's bunk, but many of the pubmed articles say it works, and go into mechanisms of action.

I'd give it a chance. It's not going to be one of those things where it fixes things up with a couple of treatments, either. Racing to hit the "Post Comment" button... here goes!
posted by herrdoktor at 12:53 AM on March 10, 2006