Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy
What is shockwave therapy?
Shockwave therapy is a non invasive treatment that uses high-energy sound waves to stimulate healing in injured or painful tissues. These acoustic waves travel through the body and release energy where different types of tissues meet, such as at tendon–bone or cartilage–bone interfaces. This energy triggers a wide range of beneficial responses, including improved blood flow, growth factor release, reduced muscle tension, accelerated tissue repair, and modulation of pain signals.
How Does shockwave Work?
Shockwave delivers focused
acoustic energy into tissues. As these waves move through areas of different density- like muscle to tendon or tendon to bone- they release tiny bursts of mechanical energy. These micro-stimuli activate the body’s natural repair pathways by:
Releasing growth factors that promote healing
Stimulating tendon and ligament repair
Modulating nerve pathways that send pain signals
Reducing muscle tension and trigger points
Stimulating tendon and ligament repair
Improving local blood flow and circulation
What is a treatment like? Does it hurt?
Pets are typically very comfortable during shockwave therapy.
Unlike older systems that often required sedation, modern devices let us
treat patients fully awake, and most pets relax with a small frozen
snack or enrichment toy during their session.
Treatments take about 10–20 minutes, depending on how many areas we address. Mild soreness for a day or two can occur but is uncommon and usually very gentle. Most pets show early improvement in comfort, and the deeper healing benefits continue to build over the following weeks to months as tissues repair and remodel.
Recent research and studies
Ultrasonographic appearance of supraspinatus and biceps tendinopathy improves in dogs treated with low-intensity extracorporeal shock wave therapy – This 2023 retrospective study evaluated dogs with supraspinatus and biceps tendinopathy and found significant improvement in ultrasound appearance and lameness after piezoelectric shockwave therapy.
Blinded, randomized, sham-controlled clinical trial of a novel piezoelectric extracorporeal shockwave therapy device in dogs – This 2025 clinical trial showed that dogs receiving shockwave after TPLO placed more weight on the operated limb at 4 weeks compared to sham-treated dogs.
Extracorporeal shock wave therapy improves short-term limb use after canine tibial plateau leveling osteotomy – A 2019 controlled study demonstrating faster return to limb use in TPLO dogs treated with ESWT vs controls.
Systematic Review of Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy in Sport and Companion Animals – A 2022 systematic review summarizing evidence for ESWT in dogs and horses, noting beneficial effects for pain, osteoarthritis, and tendinopathy.
Outcome of eight working dogs with fibrotic myopathy following extracorporeal shockwave and rehabilitation therapy: a case series – This 2024 case series reported that working dogs with fibrotic myopathy showed improved limb function and prolonged working ability after ESWT combined with rehabilitation.
High-energy focused shockwave therapy accelerates bone healing: a blinded, prospective, randomized canine clinical trial – A foundational earlier study demonstrating that ESWT significantly accelerates bone healing compared to controls.