Musculoskeletal Diagnostic Ultrasound:
- Best for superficial tendon, ligament and muscle injury
- Immediate images available
- Dynamic assessment possible
- Painless and no-side effects
- Better understanding of your problem
This is a rapidly expanding technology now available to practitioners to allow visualisation of the soft tissues: ligament, tendons and muscles around the joints. Akin to the ultrasound scan given to pregnant women, this allows the skilled clinician to see the tissues as they are in ”real time”, to identify pathology where it is present around the joints which leads to not only a more accurate diagnosis but consequently a more accurate treatment programme.
Musculo-skeletal diagnostic ultrasound utilises a high frequency probe and computer processing power to produce an image of the tendons, muscles, ligaments and even nerves, with no known side effects,* and the images can be saved to a disc and replayed on your home computer!
Fiona Jacobs holds a post-graduate MSc. from Bournemouth University in Musculo-skeletal Diagnostic Ultrasound, and her dissertation was on the Achilles tendon in young basketball players. She has found that the skill needed to produce and interpret the resultant scan (it is not just a snow storm!) has improved not only her anatomical knowledge, but her dexterity and her understanding of the way a joint is designed and how it functions. It delights her every time when she (and the patient) can see the movement of a tendon or a muscle on the screen.
* Hedrick, W. R., Hykes, D.L., Starchman, D.E., 2005. Ultrasound Physics and Instrumentation. 4th ed. St. Louis : Elsevier Mosby