Have you heard of any success with home ultrasound devices for Dupuytren contracture? If so , please give details ie: how long; how often etc.
thank you.
RRG
Greetings RRG,
Yes, I have. Over the years I have communicated with several people about their use of small ultrasound equipment for treatment of Dupuytren’s contracture. However, these home ultrasound units are always used in combination with other therapies, never alone as a solo treatment. The best unit for this purpose is the HS-3040 because of the quality of the unit, at a great price. It is a real work horse.
For these reasons it is the preferred unit used by the Dupuytren’s Contracture Institute since 1998. The HS-3040 unit has been an important part of the Large DC treatment plan since 2001. Complete instructions how to specifically use this unit for Dupuytren’s contracture treatment come with each unit. Details about use, how long, and how often are subjects covered in detail.
For more information, Ultrasound treatment for Dupuytren’s contracture.
TRH
So…
I don’t get it.
You haven’t heard of anyone having good results using home US units, yet this site promotes and sells US devices and coupling gel.
Were they using… the wrong settings or application… what?
Please clarify.
No, really. I’d like to hear your comments.
Greetings Dr. Bob,
My comments were related to ultrasound therapy in general, not home US units in particular, as a viable treatment for Dupuytren’s contracture. There is a paucity of information about the effects of ultrasound treatment on the Dupuytren’s cords and nodules, although there is a wealth of information about its use for a wide variety of soft tissue conditions. It would seem that based on the physiologic affects of US on soft tissue in general that it would have a positive impact on the fibrous tissue of Dupuytren’s contracture; it helps a lot of other soft tissue problems so it would be worth a serious effort for DC. But any application to date that I have come across for using ultrasound for DC has always been used it as a solo therapy – just as all other drug and natural therapies are tested by the medical community. I am not against this type of scientific investigation, I am just pointing out that a condition as tenacious as Dupuytren’s contracture requires more than solo therapy. For this reason it is not surprising that limited investigation into the use of US as a solo therapy for DC has not produced positive results. Vitamin E, PABA, stretching, acetyl-L-carnitine, coenzyme Q 10, all these and other therapy items also do not seem to have a beneficial effect when used as solo therapies against Dupuytren’s contracture, yet when used in combination (sometimes great combination with five, six, eight different therapies) combined therapy usage can get results due to the phenomenon of synergy. And so, it is the same with ultrasound therapy. By itself it probably will no do much good for Dupuytren’s contracture. But when combined in a large treatment plan it can often get results to reduce and even eliminate the DC fibrous tissue. This is not a good scientific way to proceed in proving the efficacy of any one therapy, but that is not the point. At this time I am far more interested in helping people with Dupuytren’s contracture, and Peyronie’s disease, than I am in fulfilling scientific research protocol requirements.
Perhaps what is confusing you is the distinction between solo and combined use of US, or any other therapy we advocate. It has been my experience that the efficacy of these therapies lies in their combined use, and this is an area of study and investigation that no one else is doing.
You also mentioned settings in your question. I have found that in general a 3MgH US machine will get better results than a 1MgH US because the sound energy will impact the tissue where the lesion are located.
I hope this answers your questions about how I suggest ultrasound be used for Dupuytren’s contracture treatment. TRH