Shockwave Therapy: What It Is and How It Heals

Elite Performance Clinic • December 2025

Piezoelectric shockwave therapy accelerates healing in chronic tendon and soft tissue conditions. Here's how this technology works and what it treats.

Shockwave therapy delivers high-energy acoustic waves to injured tissue, triggering a cascade of biological responses that accelerate healing. At Elite Performance Clinic, we use piezoelectric shockwave technology to treat chronic conditions that haven't responded to traditional physical therapy.

How Shockwave Therapy Works

The device generates acoustic waves that penetrate deep into tissue, creating microtrauma at the cellular level. This controlled damage triggers your body's natural healing response—increased blood flow, growth factor release, and collagen production.

The mechanism: Shockwaves break up calcifications, stimulate stem cell activity, and promote neovascularization (new blood vessel formation) in damaged tendons and soft tissue. The result is accelerated tissue regeneration and pain reduction.

Unlike ultrasound, which uses continuous sound waves, shockwave therapy delivers intense, focused pulses that create mechanical stress strong enough to restart stalled healing processes in chronic injuries.

What Conditions Respond Best

Shockwave therapy is particularly effective for chronic tendinopathies that have been present for months or years. The most common applications include plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinopathy, patellar tendinopathy (jumper's knee), lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow), and rotator cuff tendinopathy.

Chronic conditions: If you've had heel pain for six months and haven't seen improvement with stretching, orthotics, and rest, shockwave therapy can restart the healing process by triggering fresh inflammation and tissue remodeling.

Research shows success rates of 60-80% for chronic tendinopathies, with many patients experiencing significant pain reduction and functional improvement after a treatment series.

The Treatment Protocol

Standard protocol is 3-5 sessions spaced one week apart. Each session lasts 5-10 minutes depending on the treatment area. The shockwave applicator is placed directly on the injured tissue and delivers 2,000-4,000 pulses per session.

The treatment is uncomfortable but tolerable. You'll feel a deep, pulsing pressure at the treatment site. Some patients describe it as intense but not unbearable. The discomfort subsides immediately when the treatment stops.

Recovery timeline: You may experience increased soreness for 24-48 hours post-treatment as the healing response activates. Avoid anti-inflammatory medications during treatment, as they can interfere with the inflammatory healing process. Most patients notice improvement 4-6 weeks after completing the series.

Why It Works When Other Treatments Haven't

Chronic tendon injuries often get stuck in a failed healing cycle. The tissue is damaged but not inflamed enough to trigger repair. Traditional rest and anti-inflammatory approaches don't work because there's no active healing happening.

Shockwave therapy essentially "reboots" the healing process by creating controlled microtrauma. This restarts inflammation in a productive way, bringing fresh blood flow and growth factors to the area. Combined with progressive loading exercises, this creates an environment where true healing can occur.

How We Integrate Shockwave at EPC

• Combined with eccentric loading exercises for tendinopathy rehabilitation
• Part of comprehensive plantar fasciitis treatment protocols
• Used alongside manual therapy to break up adhesions and scar tissue
• Integrated with movement correction to address underlying biomechanical causes
• Applied to calcific deposits in tendons to promote breakdown and resorption

The Bottom Line

Shockwave therapy is a powerful tool for chronic soft tissue and tendon conditions that haven't responded to conservative treatment. It's not a first-line intervention, but for stubborn cases, it can be transformative.

At Elite Performance Clinic, we don't use shockwave in isolation. It's most effective when combined with manual therapy, corrective exercise, and progressive loading that addresses the root cause of the injury.

Dealing with chronic tendon pain that won't heal? Shockwave therapy might be the solution.

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