Ultrasound: Chronic And Acute Injury

Ultrasound is commonly used in the athletic training clinic used for chronic and acute injuries. Kenneth Knight and David Draper describe the tool as, “inaudible, acoustic vibrations of high frequency that produce thermal and/or nonthermal physiological effects” (Knight & Draper, 2013). This means that the modality uses sound waves to cause chemical and mechanical reactions in the body. Sonar or sound waves give animals such as bats the ability to detect objects. Scientists have found ways to use the same technique in Submarines. Before World War II, submarines used this technology to identify ships or other vessels in the water and in doing so found that fish were killed. This led scientists to the idea that ultrasound produces effects …show more content…
Captivation is when the ultrasonic pressure causes gas bubbles to expand and contract in tissue fluids causing the cell membrane to deform(Knight and Draper 2013). This can be good or bad depending on whether the pressure is regulated. Stable cavitation is good because it repeats over an acoustic cycle while unstable cavitation can cause further injury by collapse of the bubbles (Knight and Draper 2013). Acoustic microstreaming is caused by the pressure from the sound wave which moves fluids along the cell membrane. Microstreaming also can cause stress to the cell altering the function and structure (Knight and Draper 2013). As long as the cell is not damaged, microstreaming can be a positive stress aiding in the healing …show more content…
The study was done on rabbits and not humans meaning there could be a difference in the healing of the two species but overall this seems to point to positive benefits of ultrasound. This study also is focused on the medial collateral ligament instead of a ligament in the ankle such as the anterior talofibular ligament but since they are made of the same material the study can compare. Current articles supporting therapeutic ultrasound for ankle sprains were not accessible. The articles that specifically discuss ankle sprains treated with ultrasound seem to prove that ultrasound is not significantly beneficial. While there were some reports of improvements, the amount of change was so small that ultrasound seems like a waste of time. The ultrasound was not harming the patients further so there is not a reason not to use this treatment except that athletic trainers do not have time to waste on treatments that are not accomplishing