When talking about ultrasound therapy, which is one of the most practical treatment in healing soft tissues, reducing pain, is widely used nowadays. There are two main types of ultrasound therapy. One is called thermal therapy and the other one is mechanical therapy. The difference between them is the rate at which the sound waves traverse the tissues.
When comparing to Thermal ultrasound therapy, Mechanical ultrasound therapy has a lower heat effect on the tissues since pulses of sound waves are used to pass through tissues, resulting in expansion and contraction in the tiny gas bubbles of the soft tissues. It helps to lessen the inflammatory response and tissue swelling, reducing pain as well.
Thermal ultrasound therapy is using a more continuous transmission of sound waves. As it is a lower frequency application, it can provide a
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The first one is used as physical therapy exercises or workouts. DeCuba (2014) points out that the rehabilitative ultrasound imaging has been used in Mayo Clinic’s Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. For example, when pregnant women experience serious back pain, they can look at images of muscles in their back during exercises, in order to take care of the damaged part. Furthermore, it can alleviate pain and treat various medical conditions. For instance, destroying tumors, decreasing the size of varicose veins, killing bacteria and relieving muscular and joint pain are effective to use.
Apparently, there are several advantages of using ultrasound therapy. Extensibility of structures such as ligaments, tendons and fibrous joint capsules is improved because of the rising temperature to reduce pain and muscle spasm. Not only does it help to attract more mast cells to the wound and accelerate the normal treatment time, it is also beneficial in tissue injury by causing an increase in blood flow, which promotes a critical part of the healing