Parks Therapy Centre, 86 Cambridge St.
St Neots, Cambridgeshire, PE19 1PJ
Tel: 01480 394715 Fax: 0870 0519230

Physiotherapy ~ Acupuncture ~ Ultrasound
Back Care ~ Pain Relief ~ Sports Injuries

PARKS THERAPY CENTRE

St. NEOTS, CAMBRIDGESHIRE - 01480 394715

Real-time Ultrasound Imaging

The Ultrasound Scanner

The addition of a Chison 8300 diagnostic ultrasound scanner will facilitate the work of our physiotherapists working in the area of musculo-skeletal management and rehabilitation. Recent evidence from physiotherapists treating patients with lower back pain and stress incontinence have shown the value of using real time ultrasound imaging in relation to abdominal and pelvic floor retraining, making it easy for the patient to see their own muscle responses and providing the bio-feedback essential for muscle retraining.

The use of the diagnostic ultrasound scanner at Parks will be as part of the physiotherapists assessment process, much as we might use a stethoscope. It will incur no added costs to the treatment and will not be used as a stand-alone diagnostic tool.

Diagnoses carried out by our physiotherapists involve assessment and clinical reasoning via palpation and movement analysis; the scanner will be used to augment these findings. The addition of the scanner to Parks will facilitate:

Visualisation of deep muscle structures that are difficult to palpate;
Excellent measurement and observation for muscle contraction and muscle recovery;
Monitoring the application of specific exercises to the rehabilitation process, allowing the physiotherapist to change and adapt these exercises with the recovery of the patient;
Safe, effective, evidence based treatment; and
Effective evaluation of internal pelvic floor rehabilitation.

Ultrasound Scan examples

Examples are shown on this page of the use of ultrasound scanning to monitor the effects of Acupuncture applied to trigger points.

Here, the needle has been introduced into a tight muscle tissue band. As the needle is introduced into the tissue, the muscle fibres appear to be compressed in a downward action, as the needle is brought out of the skin, the muscle fibres grasp the needle. Needle grasp is essential for effective trigger-point needling and subsequent de-activation of the myofascial taught band in the muscle. This action is repeated by 'pistoning' the needle in and out of the tissue.
As the pistoning action is continued, the depth of needle penetration is increased as the muscle fibres start to release. Note the white bands shown on this video clip are the inter-fascial planes surrounding the muscle tissue. In the clip above, these planes were not moving, but now they are starting to move.
This clip demonstrates the smooth passage of the needle into the muscle tissue, without restriction from the taut band, either in the fascia or the muscle. The trigger point has now been successfully de-activated and the muscle fibres released. The needle is clearly seen moving in the clip; in the two clips above, the needle is in exactly the same location, but it was grasped by the tissue and is not easily distinguished from the background.
In this clip, the needle has been removed and the patient is now stretching the muscle. The clip demonstrates that the muscle fibres are being stretched actively to their full limit. This clip also shows the free movement of the inter-fascial planes surrounding the muscle an indication of the restoration of normal movement. You may ask yourself how this restoration of normal movement can take place without physical treatment of the patient - something on which we at Parks Therapy Centre pride ourselves!

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