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Extracorporeal Shockwaves – a historical note |
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In recent years shockwave therapy, originally developed for urology, has become a useful treatment for orthopaedic diseases.
As early as 1991 Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy (ESWT) was successfully used to treat pseudoarthroses. Over the following years orthopaedic indications were also successfully treated with shockwave therapy. |
In 1997, the Swiss DolorClast® method using the principle of Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy, was developed. The energy of the shockwave is either evenly spread radially through the tissue or directed into the depths of the tissue.
Originally urological devices were used for orthopaedic treatment. During further development the devices underwent technical modifications to enable simple and low-risk use in orthopaedics. Large devices, which are less practical, have increasingly been replaced by flexible and economical smaller devices.
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