What is Therapeutic Ultrasound?

Therapeutic Ultrasound is a method of stimulating tissue beneath the skin's surface using sound waves. It is a very high frequency massage that can penetrate up to 5" below the surface of your skin.

Treat Yourself with Ultrasound Therapy to:

• Speed the healing process
• Heal damaged tissue
• Soften scar tissue
• Reduce swelling and edema

Ultrasound therapy increases blood flow in the treated area which speeds the healing process and reduces swelling and edema which are the main sources of pain.

Ultrasound waves also gently massage the muscles, tendons and/or ligaments in the treated area. This enhances the recovery rate of damaged tissue without adding strain, and softens any scar tissue that is usually present in an injured area.

For most injuries and ailments, a cycle of ultrasound therapy usually consists of 5-10 minute treatments, 2-3 times per day, for the duration of the healing period. This surprises many people who have gone for single treatments in clinics only 2 or 3 times each week. This has everything to do with the cost and convenience for the customer.

A proper course of therapeutic ultrasound treatment consists of 3 to 10 minute treatment 2 to 4 times per day.

Enhance Your Treatment With Phonophoresis

Ultrasound can also be used to administer therapeutic medicines into the body, this is a process known as phonophoresis.

MendMeShop^®'s Lavender Infusion Ultrasound gel is made with the natural medical ingredients of:

• Eucalyptus
• Peppermint
• Lavender
• Menthol

These natural ingredients have anesthetic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, circulatory stimulant properties and more.

When massaged into the skin with ultrasonic waves through a process called phonophoresis, MendMeShop^® Lavender Infusion Gel relieves pain and speeds healing without any side-effects. It's powerful, effective, hypoallergenic, and it works!

Ultrasound with Phonophoresis is rapidly becoming more popular than Ultrasound Therapy alone.

What Can Be Treated With Ultrasound?

An incredibly wide variety of ailments are treated using ultrasound. Essentially, ultrasound will help anywhere there is a need to promote blood circulation, and reduce swelling and edema.

Injuries treated primarily with ultrasound include injuries to:

• Tendons
• Ligaments
• Muscles and
• Cartilage

Ultrasound helps to reduce swelling and edema, which in turn greatly reduces the pain from an injury. The stimulated tissue, and increased blood flow, speed the healing process and help break down scar tissue that typically develops with tendonitis and soft tissue injuries.

Typically, these types of injuries are very slow to heal, and because people continue to try to use the injured body part, the injury is repeatedly stressed. Regular applications of ultrasound over the duration of the healing period will significantly reduce pain and the recovery time.

Most professional athletes use ultrasound as a preventative method to protect against injury. Using ultrasound before and after very physically strenuous activities aids in the warm-up/warm-down process.

Athletes with chronic ailments from previous injuries will use ultrasound to promote circulation to the injured area and to reduce swelling and pain which may impact their performance. Because they use them daily, most professional athletes have purchased personal ultrasound units.

People who suffer from chronic ailments associated with swelling and pain also gain great benefit from ultrasound. These ailments include:

• Arthritis
• Bursitis
• Carpal and Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome
• Swollen disks

Ailments which are not chronic, such as Bursitis and Tunnel Syndromes, can be treated and eliminated with ultrasound. For conditions such as arthritis, ultrasound cannot cure the disease but it can reduce the pain and swelling significantly, which allows people to resume their normal activities.

When used for treating painful conditions such as these, ultrasound is typically applied using a medicated gel for the phonophoretic benefit as well.

Therapeutic Ultrasound Can Be Used to Relieve
Tension Headaches and Migraines

As a therapeutic massage device, ultrasound is very effective at reducing muscle tension. People who suffer from muscle tension headaches and migraines can use ultrasound on the back of their necks.

This is a very common procedure used by massage therapists and chiropractors for headache sufferers. People receiving treatments often describe the sensation, saying 'the machine seems to suck the tension and pain right out of my head through my neck'. In reality, what is happening is the ultrasound is releasing pressure on trigger points, which are the source of the pain.

Massage therapists are increasingly offering ultrasound treatments in conjunction with regular massage, as a pain free method of releasing trigger point pressure and knots in all the muscles.

Using ultrasound on the trigger points of injured muscles helps to relax the muscle from the trauma of the injury. When relaxed, the muscle can heal from its injury much more quickly and more effectively, with less scar tissue. While full body ultrasound treatments are not practical, ultrasound treatments on localized trouble areas are very effective.

How Does Ultrasound Work?

Therapeutic Ultrasound uses sound waves to stimulate tissue beneath the skin's surface. The sound waves emitted from therapeutic ultrasound therapy are of a very high frequency, typically between 800,000Hz and 2,000,000Hz.

The sound cannot be heard by humans or animals. Humans can only hear sounds up to about 20,000Hz.

These high frequency waves affect tissue on the cellular level, energizing the tissues causing them to vibrate. Furthermore, the nutrient absorption rate and blood flow in the area are greatly enhanced.

Ultrasound Frequency and Power Output Explained

How ultrasound energy is transferred into the body is a complicated question. The frequency of the ultrasound waves is actually opposite to how deep they will penetrate the body.

A 1MHz ultrasound will penetrate about 4" below the skin whereas a 2MHz ultrasound unit will only penetrate about 2".

While a low frequency means deeper penetration, using too low a frequency will mean that the waves are too wide to properly move the molecules. For therapeutic applications, 1MHz is the optimal frequency for both effect and penetration.

Power output is another significant factor. It is measured in watts per square centimeter. The higher the power, the more energy is transferred into the body.

If too high a power output is used and an ultrasound unit is left sitting on the body, it is possible to burn the tissue beneath the skin. While several professional ultrasound machines are capable of these high powers, your medical practitioner will typically use a low power setting below 1 watt / per squared centimeter.

More power is not necessarily better. Practitioners usually use higher powers to speed up treatments. It is actually more effective to use a lower power setting for a longer period of time.

The power output rating is often broken down into two separate units:

• Peak intensity and
• Average intensity

Peak intensity can be thought of as how tall the waves are that are being sent into your body. The waves need to be large enough to affect the tissue and provide the desired massage effect.

At the same time, your body tissue needs breaks between groups of waves to cool down. So, Ultrasound machines actually send the waves in groups, giving your body a vibrate-rest-vibrate-rest effect.

The average intensity is a measure of how much energy is transferred over a period of vibrate-rest cycles.

Often Ultrasound machines provide a Total Power Output rating. High power units are typically used with large applicator heads to treat larger parts of the body. The important measurement part of ultrasound is the watts per square centimeter mentioned above, not the total unit power. Again, it is more effective to treat the affected area more frequently and for longer periods with lower power.

When applied directly to the skin, an ultrasound head cannot effectively transfer the sound waves into the body. To make it work properly, a conductive medium is required - ultrasound gel.

The gel simply makes it possible for the sound waves to travel from the unit head into your body. Ultrasound without gel is ineffective, and can damage the ultrasound machine.

MendMeShop^® Home Therapy Ultrasound Kits

The MendMeShop^® Portable Ultrasound Home Therapy Kit is a device designed for people who require or desire regular ultrasound treatments. Compact, light weight, safe, portable and very easy to use, it provides people with a means to give themselves convenient and regular ultrasound treatments.

The units come with our naturally medicated ultrasound gel that, through the process of phonophoresis, delivers anti-inflammatory and pain relieving ingredients deep inside the body. Together, the combination of phonophoretically delivered medications and regular ultrasound therapy provide incredible pain relief and speed the healing process.

In addition to the ultrasound unit and medicated gel, our kits also come with an illustrated treatment guide, to help you through treating almost every part of your body.

Home Ultrasound Kits are radically changing lives, as well as the professional therapeutic community.

A low cost, safe, easy to use unit means you can get ultrasound treatments 3 times per day, every day in the comfort of your own home instead of just a couple times per week.

That's 10 times as often with 10 times the benefit - meaning a less painful and more speedy recovery.

The MendMeShop^® Ultrasound System and Lavender Infusion Gel are only available online and exclusively from MendMeShop^®. You can have your own ultrasound system and take control of your therapy. Treat yourself frequently, inexpensively, conveniently and comfortably in your own home.
Order on-line now!

Restrictions On The Use Of Ultrasound

• Never use your ultrasound unit for treatment without first applying the conductive gel.
• Never clean the unit with water or submerge it under water.
• Never use ultrasound on children under the age of 16 without the recommendation/supervision of a physician or therapist.

Ultrasound is Not Recommended for Use:

• Over any implants of any kind
• Over organs (stomach, liver, lungs, spleen, bowels, heart, kidneys)
• Over the pelvis, abdomen and lumbar (lower back) region in pregnant or potentially pregnant females.
• Over highly ultrasound-sensitive organs (eyes, ears, ovaries, testicles, brain, spinal cord)
• Over mucous membranes (mouth, nose, rectum/anus, vagina)
• On patients with pace-makers
• On patients with phlebitis, and/or deep venous thrombosis
• On patients with hemophilia
• On patients with spina bifida or surgical laminectomies of the spine
• On tissue and/or bone with active infection
• Over areas suspected to be cancerous or pre-cancerous
• Over de-sensitized (numb, hypoaesthesia) areas of the skin (eg. diabetic neuropathy)
• Over open sores or lesions
• In the front of the upper neck (thyroid region)
• Over areas that have had cortisone injections in the last 30 days