If you’ve ever broken a bone, you know how long it takes to heal. All that time hauling around a cast, sore arm pits from the crutches, not to mention the itching in places you can’t scratch! But bones are amazingly resilient. Most people are back to new in six to eight weeks. Unfortunately, healing doesn’t always go smoothly. Some peoples’ bones simply don’t heal after a fracture. Sometimes surgery speeds the healing, but even that may not help.
Well, there’s great news for both the normal healers and nonhealers–ultrasound. This study showed that only 20 minutes a day of ultrasound waves directed at the fracture site reduced healing time by 40%. The ultrasound even helped mend fractures that hadn’t healed with surgery and even several years of healing time.
These authors reviewed research done over the past few decades on the effect of ultrasound on fractures. Some of the studies showed dramatic results. For example, one study compared two groups of 33 people. One group received daily ultrasound. The control group got phony treatments. (Neither group knew who was getting the real thing). In the control group, 36% failed to heal well, compared to only 6% of the ultrasound group.
Even more impressive was the response of fractures that simply would not heal (also called non-union fractures). The researchers found several studies of non-unions where the average fracture had happened two to three years before. Some of these fractures had not healed despite two or more surgeries. Then daily ultrasound was added to their treatments for three to five months. The healing rate went from 0% to an amazing 85% to 93%.
Often factors such as older age, cigarette smoking, obesity, and use of steroids or anti-inflammatory drugs (such as aspirin or ibuprofen) can slow healing of a fracture. But ultrasound even appeared to cancel out these factors. Healing rates were no longer delayed even with these higher risk factors.
The authors cautioned that ultrasound may not be appropriate or effective in all fractures. One study of 32 patients showed no difference between placebo and ultrasound healing. However, the bulk of the evidence showed a significant improvement in healing times. Since ultrasound is so safe, it certainly is worth considering in cases where fracture healing may not occur as planned.