Shockwave therapy accelerates the healing process in the body by stimulating the metabolism and enhancing blood circulation to regenerate damaged tissue. Strong energy pulses are applied to the affected area. These pulses occur for short periods of time, creating micro-cavitation bubbles that expand and burst. The force created by these bubbles penetrates tissue and stimulates cells in the body that are responsible for bone and connective tissue healing. In many instances, shockwave therapy is most effective in cases where the human body has not been able to heal itself on its own.

Extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) is a modern and highly effective treatment method: high-energy sound waves are introduced into the body. With this innovative therapy approach, pathological alterations of tendons, ligaments, capsules, muscles and bones can be healed systematically.

STORZ offers focused, and radial shockwave systems to cover the great variety of indications in orthopaedic therapy and rehabilitation medicine and makes the combined shockwave therapy system and the radial system MASTERPULS® line the most successful ESWT systems worldwide today.

In RPW generators, compressed air accelerates a projectile inside a cylindrical guiding tube. When the projectile hits an applicator at the end of the tube, a pressure wave is produced and radially expands into the target tissue. These devices do not emit shockwaves because the rise times of the pressure pulses are too long and the pressure outputs are too low. Nevertheless, RPW may induce acoustic cavitation. The modes of action and the effects of RPW on living tissue may differ from those of focused shockwaves because bioeffects are related to the pressure waveform. F-ESWT and RPW may complement each other. While RPW is suitable for treating large areas, focused shockwaves can be concentrated deep inside the body.