Are there after effects on the hard tissues of the bone that occur during shock wave treatment of calcification or other diseases, which show up years after shock wave therapy?
There has been no written information in the past ten years of medical bibliography to indicate the above occurrence. The probability for such occurrence is low because the pressure produced by the orthopedic treatment and its effect on the treated area is smaller than when using a urological reflector. This is due to the fact that the focal area, where energy is accumulated, is bigger when using the orthopedic reflector than when using the Urological one. Thus the pressure per area unit is smaller when administering shock wave treatment with an orthopedic reflector.
The number of shocks per calcification treatment varies between 1000 and 1500 shocks. The probability of damage to the bone is low. In order to damage the bone structure it is necessary to use stronger and more frequent shock waves. One example of this is the treatment of non-union fractures which requires 5000 shocks at a much higher pressure in order to stimulate bone tissue growth without destroying the integrity of the bone structure.
