My son broke the bone in his lower leg right before the soccer play offs. With all our fancy medicine and technology hasn’t someone come up with a faster way to heal bones? Does it really have to take four to six weeks?

Healing tissue, whether it’s bone, cartilage, muscle, or tendons has about a four to six week healing cycle. Nothing we’ve come up with has changed that. Recent studies (first on animals then on humans) show that sound waves in the form of ultrasound can speed up bone healing.

One study reported faster healing time in lower leg bone fractures of 37 days. This is a savings of thousands of dollars in health care costs. It has been proven that electric current can stimulate bone growth and enhance the healing process.

Insurance companies do not approve these treatment methods unless the fracture hasn’t healed after three months or more.

Researchers are also looking for drugs to stimulate bone growth and repair but this isn’t ready yet. For now everyone is held to the same standard: four to six weeks’ healing time unless problems occur.