Shockwave Therapy After a Car Accident: Treat Tendon and Soft Tissue Injuries Within 14 Days

The Chattanooga unit drives a projectile inside a handpiece against an applicator, which sends a pressure wave into the tissue underneath. That wave spreads through the tendon or muscle and produces a brief, controlled stress at the cellular level.

The body treats that stress as a fresh injury and responds with new blood vessels, repair cells, and a drop in pain signaling. Tendon and ligament heal slowly because they have little blood supply, and a crash injury that has stalled for weeks often responds to that restart. Dr. McNamara-Krauss sets the energy, frequency, and pulse count per area.

Shockwave is used on extremities and soft tissue only. It is never applied to the spine. The spine carries structures that pressure waves must not reach, and we have better tools for it: adjustments, decompression, and laser. Shockwave goes to the shoulder strained by the seat belt and the knee that hit the dash.

The second rule is that shockwave and laser are never applied to the same area. Each area is assigned one or the other at the examination. Laser handles acute inflammation; shockwave handles tendon and fascia that stay painful after the swelling has gone. Under Florida PIP, treatment within 14 days keeps the full $10,000 benefit available, and shockwave is usually added later in a plan that began inside that window. This is general information, not legal advice.

Gel is applied over the injured tendon or muscle, the handpiece is pressed against the area, and the unit delivers a rapid series of pulses. You feel a deep tapping that is uncomfortable at the most tender spot and eases as the pulses continue. A single area takes a few minutes. There is no needle and no downtime, though the area is often sore for a day or two afterward.

A typical course is a small number of sessions spaced about a week apart, because the tissue needs time between sessions to respond. There is no fixed count. Dr. McNamara-Krauss re-tests the tendon, the joint motion, and your pain level before each session and stops when the tissue has responded or another treatment is the better choice.

Shockwave is a forceful treatment and the screening before it matters. Dr. Carol McNamara-Krauss is a Florida-licensed chiropractic physician (DC), license CH5281. She does not use shockwave on the spine, the head, the chest over the lungs or heart, or the abdomen during pregnancy. She does not use it over a suspected fracture, a tumor, an infection, an open growth plate, or a joint replacement, or on a patient with a bleeding disorder.

Shockwave is never combined with laser on the same area. Head injuries and concussion are screened and referred, not treated here. A limb that is swollen, discolored, or cold, or a suspected fracture, goes to an emergency department before any office treatment. Broward Health North in Deerfield Beach is the nearest to this office.