Although ultrasound is one of the most frequently prescribed treatments for one of the most common sport and athletic injuries - skeletal muscle contusions - there's really no good scientific evidence showing that it treats injured muscles effectively, said Steven Devor, lead author of the study and assistant professor of sport and exercise sciences at Ohio State University. The study appears in the International Journal of Sports Medicine. Devor and his colleagues used ultrasound to treat contusion injuries inflicted on rats' gastrocnemius muscles - the main muscle in the calf.
"It didn't make one bit of difference in the time it took the treated and non-treated calf muscles to heal," Devor said. "Millions of people receive ultrasound treatment every year for muscle injuries, with insurance companies usually covering the cost."
While Devor believes that ultrasound treatment may feel good, he worries that treating a sports-related muscle injury with ultrasound may give an athlete a false sense of security.
"Because the injured muscle feels better after ultrasound treatment, an athlete may be tempted to get back in the game before the skeletal muscle injury is really healed," Devor said. "This puts him at risk for more significant re-injury if the muscle isn't completely healed.
"I'm supportive of the placebo effect - massaging an injury may make the person feel better," he continued. "But in this case, ultrasound treatment didn't have any physiological effect. Medical practitioners who administer this treatment regularly need to ask more questions about its effectiveness in treating injured skeletal muscle."
The results from this study may readily translate to human muscular injuries, as the structure of skeletal muscle tissue is the same across species.
"Our skeletal muscle tissue is the same as what's in a rat, dog, cat, etc.," Devor said. "The difference is that the tissue is exposed to diverse hormonal environments."
He and his colleagues are continuing to study ultrasound therapy - they're currently looking at the effect that different types of ultrasound have on skeletal muscle contusion injuries.
In the meantime, Devor's best advice is that injured athletes let muscles heal as Mother Nature intended - on their own time.
