We've all heard of tennis elbow and how painful it can be.
Some times conservative treatments such as physical therapy, braces, and medications will help with the last resort being surgery. But when that doesn't work there's a new option.
Tennis elbow is a very common condition. Those who suffer from it feel the pain towards the outside of their elbow. The condition got the nickname because it's frequently caused by tennis.
But it can be caused by anything that's associated with repetitive strong grip, like using a hammer or a screw driver.
In the past surgery to relieve the pain was an open procedure. But local Orthopedic Surgeon, -- Dr. James Talkington, says now there's Ossatron. “You may be familiar with lithotripsy --where high energy shock waves are used to break up kidneys stones.. this is the same idea but applied to orthopedic conditions.
“The first thing I do while the patient is still awake I find the point of maximal tenderness then I mark that point because that's where I'm going to concentrate the majority of the treatment.”
Once the patient is asleep head phones are used to drown out the loud noise of the machine. ‘’It only affects the area that we're attempting to treat and there's a particular level of energy associated with it. And a particular number of taps associated with each one of those conditions.
Those taps open the way to increased blood flow. Dr. Talkington says most of the time only one treatment is needed. “We're talking about a permanent cure for a majority of patients. There's no guarantee with any treatment but this treatment has equivalent or better results than the open surgery."
The only bad news about the treatment is that you can go back to work the next day-- with a few restrictions. Ossatron can also help people who suffer from heel pain.
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