{"id":798,"date":"2013-03-04T10:30:29","date_gmt":"2013-03-04T10:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandaretreats.com\/blog\/?p=798"},"modified":"2013-03-26T06:08:38","modified_gmt":"2013-03-26T06:08:38","slug":"using-ultrasound-to-treat-fractures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandaretreats.com\/blog\/archives\/798","title":{"rendered":"Using Ultrasound to treat fractures?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"177379a8-a848-483d-9108-af9a95f4d434\"<\/a>Ultrasound<\/b> is an oscillating sound<\/a> pressure wave with a frequency greater than the upper limit of the human healing range.\u00a0 Ultrasound is thus not separated from ‘normal’ (audible) sound based on differences in physical properties, only the fact that humans cannot hear it.<\/p>\n

Ultrasound was first developed as a diagnostic tool in Glasgow in the 1950s. \u00a0Orthopaedic surgeon Angus MacLean has been using the ultrasound technology at Glasgow\u2019s Royal Infirmary\u2019s fracture clinic.<\/p>\n

It has been shown to speed up recovery times for patients with severe fractures by more than a third.\u00a0 It is used for difficult fractures, the ones with problems with healing, and it\u2019s a very simple, painless treatment that we can give.\u00a0 It\u2019s an interesting scientific development and there\u2019s good evidence that it just vibrates the cells a little which then stimulates healing and regeneration in the bone.<\/p>\n

A team of specialists, led by Professor Ian Donald, produced the first images of the body using a technology adapted from sonar at Glasgow\u2019s Western Infirmary.<\/p>\n

It has become one of the most common medical technologies in the world. It is only now, 50 years later, that its potential for aiding the healing process is being unlocked.<\/p>\n

Apprentice engineer Gary Denham was offered ultrasound treatment after he fell 20ft (6m) from a water tank and broke his ankle into eight pieces.\u00a0\u00a0 “It\u2019s got a wee strap and that goes round where the break was,” he explained.<\/p>\n

“I put some gel on the probe and then I just put the probe inside the strap and then just basically leave it for 20 minutes. There\u2019s no sensation at all, it\u2019s completely painless.”<\/p>\n

Mr Denham\u2019s injury was so severe that there was a chance it would never heal and might eventually have to be amputated.\u00a0 After ultrasound treatment, he was back on his feet within months.<\/p>\n

He added: “I\u2019d never heard of it before, but my leg healed after four months and I\u2019m looking to go back to work within eight months.”<\/p>\n

Because of the costs involved \u2013 around \u00a31,000 per patient \u2013 ultrasound is only being used on complex fractures at Glasgow Royal Infirmary but Mr Denham\u2019s doctor, Mr MacLean, is very happy with the results.\u00a0 “Before we used ultrasound I would expect to see this kind of injury healing with some difficulty, and some of them don\u2019t heal at all,” he said.\u00a0 Even if they do heal, it can take between six and 12 months and patients have ongoing pain during that time.<\/p>\n

“The evidence suggests that ultrasound speeds things up by about 40%, but the main interest for me is to use it to make sure the bone heals rather than the bone not \u2018knitting\u2019 together which then leads to serious problems.”<\/p>\n

It is expected that the cost of using ultrasound to treat fractures will reduce over time, making it more economical to speed up the healing of common fractures as well as complex ones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ultrasound is an oscillating sound pressure wave with a frequency greater than the upper limit of the human healing range.\u00a0 Ultrasound is thus not separated from ‘normal’ (audible) sound based on differences in physical properties, only the fact that humans cannot hear it. Ultrasound was first developed as a diagnostic tool in Glasgow in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[12,23],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandaretreats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandaretreats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandaretreats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandaretreats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandaretreats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sandaretreats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandaretreats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandaretreats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandaretreats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}