# Ultrasound Therapy: Woo or Not Woo? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 16, 2014, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultrasound-therapy-woo-or-not-woo/707452 "2014-12-16T23:38:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Marion\_Wormer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@Marion\_Wormer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Wormer)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2014, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultrasound-therapy-woo-or-not-woo/707452/1 "2014-12-16T23:38:40Z")
I’m getting PT and part of the therapy is Ultrasound Therapy. I looked it up and it turns out there’s actually not a clear medical reasons of a. If it works, or b. IF it does, then why it works. Poking around on forums there’s a lot of PTs who think it’s woo. I’m not getting any real sense of it working. The tech could be rubbing my hip with a magic wand for all the change I feel. So, anyone got any opinions? Wonderful stories of magical cures? Even if you only impress on me the power of the placebo effect, I’d be happy with that. At this point, I’d take a placebo effect cure. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2014, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultrasound-therapy-woo-or-not-woo/707452/2 "2014-12-16T23:59:55Z")
I had an injured shoulder back in 2000-ish that I went to PT for 3 times a week for 4 weeks. In addition to having me do various maneuvers at PT and at home, the therapist started every session with a 10 minute ultrasound “treatment” of the shoulder. I will say that it really made the shoulder feel looser and a lot better before we started the exercises. Woo? I don’t think so. Placebo? Not sure because I was skeptical it would do anything. The first couple of sessions I thought the therapist was applying heat, and I mentioned to her how gentle the heat was, and she told me it was ultrasound not heat. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultrasound-therapy-woo-or-not-woo/707452/3 "2014-12-17T00:00:08Z")
Without claiming that it works, ISTR being told that the sound waves stimulated blood flow in the affected area, and blood flow was good because it brought oxygen to the damaged connective tissue and helped it to heal. My frozen shoulders healed up well, but my plantar fasciitis doesn’t seem to be healing. Both conditions were treated with ultrasound, in addition to electrical stimulation and massage. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultrasound-therapy-woo-or-not-woo/707452/4 "2014-12-17T00:00:27Z")
> **[Therapeutic ultrasound](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therapeutic_ultrasound)** > > Therapeutic ultrasound refers generally to any type of ultrasonic procedure that uses ultrasound for therapeutic benefit. Physiotherapeutic ultrasound was introduced into clinical practice in the 1950s, with lithotripsy introduced in the 1980s. Others are at various stages in transitioning from research to clinical use: HIFU, targeted ultrasound drug delivery, trans-dermal ultrasound drug delivery, ultrasound hemostasis, cancer therapy, and ultrasound assisted thrombolysis It may use focus In th... The wiki page doesn’t discuss any controversy around it’s usage as described. I had it during PT - not sure it did anything either but it felt good at the time. Here’s another link that goes into detail about what it does, but I’m not sure of clinical trials demonstrating benefits. [http://www.greatlakes-physiotherapy.com/physiotherapy-ultrasound.html](http://www.greatlakes-physiotherapy.com/physiotherapy-ultrasound.html) ---
**Author:** ![Boomer\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f1d935/32.png) [@Boomer\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boomer_1)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultrasound-therapy-woo-or-not-woo/707452/5 "2014-12-17T00:02:58Z")
It’s been around a long long time, which doesn’t directly address its efficacy, but does suggest at least it is safe. I learned at a young age the the human knee is not designed to do whip kicks (faster version of frog kicks used by competitive breaststroke swimmers) and spent 20-30 minutes in a whirlpool tub holding an ultrasound probe on my knee every day after swim practice. This was in the mid-1970s. Supposedly, the very short sound waves create heat in the tissue, leading to increased blood flow and a reduction of inflammation. ---
**Author:** ![Marion\_Wormer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@Marion\_Wormer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Wormer)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultrasound-therapy-woo-or-not-woo/707452/6 "2014-12-17T18:29:09Z")
Well, I had another treatment with the ultrasound machine and for the first time I felt the heat. This was followed by massage. So today for the first time I feel improvement. Either it works or all your helpful messages have made me believe it works! Either way I’m not limping as much.