What is a Musculoskeletal ultrasound and How Can It Help?
July 20, 2017
An ultrasound uses high-frequency sound waves to capture live images from inside your body. You most likely associate ultrasounds with pregnancy and getting to see an image of your baby. There are other uses of ultrasound technology. A musculoskeletal ultrasound can produce images of muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints.
Functions of Musculoskeletal Ultrasound Technology
Musculoskeletal ultrasound technology has two primary functions in non-surgical orthopedics. The first is as a diagnostic tool. In the past, we relied on x-rays, MRIs and CT scans to diagnose musculoskeletal conditions. However, these tests came with their fair share of disadvantages and limitations. For example, x-rays can only provide a limited view of your tissues and MRIs are costly.
With advanced musculoskeletal ultrasound, we have a cost effective, convenient and detailed way to assess the health of your tissues and “find the pain.” This imaging test allows us to diagnose a wide range of conditions, including tendon and muscle tears, ligament sprains, inflammation within the bursae and joints, rheumatoid arthritis, nerve entrapments and more.
The second function is the ability to guide injections. Musculoskeletal ultrasounds allow us to better perform minimally-invasive treatments that require very accurate needle placements, such as PRP therapy, bone marrow stem cell therapy, hyaluronic acid injections, cortisone injections and more. The detailed image allows us to see your anatomy and locate the exact area of the injury or pain. In this way, we are able to ensure that our treatment reaches the right location – maximizing its benefits and preventing damage to the surrounding structures.
Benefits of Musculoskeletal Ultrasound
Using musculoskeletal ultrasounds to diagnose and manage your condition comes with a variety of appealing benefits, including:
- The ability to evaluate bony structures and soft tissues, including your tendons, muscles and ligaments.
- It’s a very comfortable patient experience that eliminates the claustrophobia and radiation exposure associated with other imaging tests.
- Live testing allows our Los Angeles physiatrists to dynamically move your body parts throughout the exam, providing a more dynamic view of the underlying structures and reproduce the pain.
- It serves as a guide during many of our non-surgical treatments – such as PRP therapy, bone marrow stem cell therapy and more – by ensuring the accuracy of our needle placement.
- It tends to be more affordable to patients when compared with a CT scan or MRI
Ultrasound technology has advanced in extraordinary ways over the past several years. As such, our experts at the Orthohealing Center routinely use musculoskeletal ultrasound to diagnose and manage a number of ailments and conditions for our patients in Los Angeles and surrounding areas, often eliminating the need for an MRI or CT scan. Our doctors were among the first in the medical community to integrate ultrasound and develop protocols and techniques with regenerative medicine. We have published literature and educated thousands of physicians around the world on the latest techniques. Frequently ultrasound is utilized to help ensure precise needle guidance for biologic injections to ensure a comfortable patient experience with the greatest opportunity for success.
Don’t let joint damage, sports injuries and musculoskeletal ailments slow you down indefinitely. Schedule a consultation at the Orthohealing Center today, and let our team of world-class specialists heal your injury, deliver profound pain relief and get you back to your full and active lifestyle. Call us today (310) 312-8095