SHOCKWAVE THERAPY · HUNTINGTON, NY
Shockwave Therapy in Huntington, NY
Non-invasive, FDA-cleared focused shockwave (ESWT) for stubborn tendon and heel pain — Storz Medical, with more than a decade of focused-shockwave experience on Long Island.
What Shockwave Therapy Is
Shockwave therapy — also called ESWT, or extracorporeal shockwave therapy — is a non-invasive, FDA-cleared treatment that sends focused acoustic pressure waves into an injured tendon or soft tissue to switch the body’s own repair process back on. At West Hills Chiropractic Pain Center in Huntington, NY, we’ve used focused shockwave by Storz Medical for more than a decade to treat plantar fasciitis, tennis elbow, rotator cuff tendinopathy, and Achilles pain. Most patients finish a course in four to six short visits — no surgery, no injections, no anesthesia, and no recovery time afterward.
What Shockwave Therapy Actually Does
If you’ve been dealing with a nagging tendon or heel problem for months, you’ve probably already tried rest, ice, anti-inflammatories, maybe a stretch routine off YouTube. Sometimes that’s enough. When it isn’t, the tissue usually isn’t inflamed anymore — it’s stalled. The repair process that should have finished weeks ago just never did. That’s the gap shockwave therapy is built to close.
Each pulse delivers a quick burst of mechanical energy to the painful area. Your body reads that energy as a signal to get back to work: blood flow to the region increases, new microvessels form, and the cells that lay down healthy collagen are nudged into action. On a stubborn calcium deposit — the kind that shows up in a lot of shoulders — the same energy helps break the deposit apart so the body can clear it. None of this relies on a drug or a scalpel. It’s your own biology, restarted.
Shockwave therapy has been used in orthopedics and sports medicine for decades, and it’s a mainstay for the kinds of musculoskeletal (MSK) injuries that don’t show up on a quick visit and don’t respond to a pill. We see a lot of those at our Huntington office: runners and weekend athletes, nurses and contractors on their feet all day, desk workers in the Route 110 corridor whose shoulders and elbows have simply had enough. For most of them, shockwave therapy is the step that finally moves the needle without putting them on the sidelines.
What sets our program apart on Long Island is the equipment and the experience behind it. We use focused shockwave from Storz Medical — a true focused system, not the lighter radial “pressure-wave” devices many clinics market as shockwave — and we’ve been running it for over ten years. That combination of the right tool and a decade of reps is the reason patients who’ve already been everywhere else tend to do well here.
Focused Shockwave vs. Radial Pressure Waves
“Shockwave” gets used as a catch-all, but there are two very different technologies hiding under that one word — and the distinction has real clinical consequences.
Radial pressure waves
Made by firing a small projectile against an applicator with compressed air. The energy is strongest right at the skin and fades quickly with depth — useful for superficial, broad areas, but it can’t concentrate force on a structure that sits an inch or more below the surface. Often branded “EPAT.”
Focused shockwave
Generated inside the applicator and focused — like light through a lens — to a precise point at a chosen depth. That puts therapeutic energy exactly on a deep rotator cuff tendon, a calcium deposit, or the origin of the plantar fascia. In a head-to-head randomized trial, focused outperformed radial for rotator-cuff tendon pain.
Here’s why this matters if you’re comparing providers in Huntington: several local clinics offer radial devices and call it shockwave. It’s not wrong, exactly — but for deep tendon and bone problems, focused is the more capable tool. Our Storz DUOLITH is a focused system, and when a case genuinely calls for a broad superficial treatment, we have radial available too. You get matched to the right modality for your injury rather than whatever a single machine happens to do.
WHAT WE TREAT
MSK Conditions We Treat With Shockwave
Shockwave works best on chronic tendon and connective-tissue problems — the ones that have hung around past the six-week mark. The conditions we see most often at our Huntington clinic:
Plantar fasciitis & heel pain
The most common and best-studied use — focused energy delivered right at the origin of the plantar fascia.
Tennis elbow
Lateral epicondylitis — pain on the outside of the elbow that gripping and lifting make worse.
Golfer’s elbow
Medial epicondylitis — the inner-elbow counterpart, same stalled-tendon problem.
Rotator cuff & calcific tendinitis
Shoulder pain, including the calcium deposits that show on imaging and respond well to focused energy.
Achilles tendinopathy
Both mid-portion and insertional — common in runners and a frequent reason people come in.
Patellar tendinopathy
Jumper’s knee — front-of-knee pain in jumping and running athletes.
Greater trochanteric / hip tendinopathy
Pain on the outside of the hip that’s slow to settle with rest alone.
Shin & stress-related bone pain
Plus other chronic tendon strains — evaluated case by case to confirm shockwave is the right fit.
Shockwave is also a strong fit alongside our other services. Many patients combine it with physical rehabilitation and corrective exercise so the tendon is both stimulated and reloaded properly, and patients with overlapping spine issues are often already seeing us for non-surgical spinal decompression.
What the Research Says
Shockwave isn’t a fringe therapy — it has a solid base of randomized trials and systematic reviews behind it. A few of the studies we point patients to:
Plantar fasciitis
A 2024 systematic review of 14 randomized trials (867 patients) found ESWT measurably reduced the thickened plantar fascia seen on ultrasound (Simental-Mendía et al., Arch Orthop Trauma Surg, 2024). A separate meta-analysis of stubborn cases found high-energy shockwave significantly improved the odds of a 60% drop in heel pain versus placebo (Sun et al., 2017).
Tennis elbow
A 13-trial meta-analysis (1,035 patients) reported ESWT improved both pain and grip strength (Yao et al., 2020). In a 2024 review comparing it head-to-head with cortisone, the shot may feel better in the first few weeks — but shockwave produced better pain and function at the 3- and 6-month marks (Zhang et al., 2024).
Rotator cuff
An Annals of Internal Medicine systematic review concluded high-energy ESWT improves pain and function in chronic calcific rotator-cuff tendinitis (Bannuru et al., Ann Intern Med, 2014), and a randomized trial found focused shockwave beat radial for non-calcific cuff pain (2021).
Achilles tendinopathy
A 2021 trial in the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery found that adding shockwave to an eccentric exercise program cut the rate of symptoms returning roughly in half (17% vs. 35%) (Mansur et al., JBJS, 2021) — pairing the two is why our protocol does.
What to Expect — Start to Finish
Patients are usually surprised by how straightforward this is. Here’s the whole process, start to finish:
Evaluation & diagnosis
We start with a focused exam and review any imaging you have. Shockwave is precise, so we confirm exactly which structure is the pain generator before we treat anything.
Mapping the target
We palpate and locate the most symptomatic point — with a focused device, hitting the right spot at the right depth is the whole game.
Treatment
A gel couples the applicator to your skin, and the unit delivers pulses to the area for about five to ten minutes. You’ll feel a firm tapping that builds; we adjust the intensity to keep you in a productive but tolerable range.
Right back to your day
There’s no numbing, no bandage, no downtime. You walk out and drive yourself home. We’ll ask you to ease off high-impact loading on the area for a day or two.
A short series
Most MSK conditions need three to six sessions, spaced about a week apart, to give the tissue time to respond between visits.
Loading & follow-up
We pair treatment with targeted exercise so the healing tendon rebuilds under the right stress. Many people notice a shift within two to three weeks, with the fuller benefit landing over the weeks after the series wraps.
Shockwave Therapy vs. the Other Options
How focused shockwave stacks up against the usual paths for a chronic tendon problem:
| RecommendedFocused shockwave | Surgery | Cortisone shot | Rest / NSAIDs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Invasive? | No — nothing breaks the skin | Yes — incision | Needle injection | No |
| Downtime | None | Weeks to months | Days; activity limits | Ongoing |
| Treats the cause? | Yes — restarts repair | Sometimes | No — masks pain | No |
| Long-term result | Better pain & function at 3–6 mo. in trials | Can be strong; higher risk | Often fades; repeat shots weaken tendon | Poor for chronic cases |
| Typical commitment | 4–6 short visits | OR + rehab | One visit | Indefinite |
For a chronic tendon that hasn’t responded to conservative care, shockwave often sits in the sweet spot: it actually addresses the stalled healing, without the risk and recovery of surgery or the long-term downside of repeated steroid injections.
Shockwave Therapy FAQs
Does shockwave therapy hurt?
Most people describe it as a strong, deep tapping rather than pain. There can be some tenderness in the spot we’re treating — that’s the area that already hurts — but we control the intensity throughout and dial it to a level you can sit with. There’s no numbing needed, and any soreness afterward is usually mild and gone within a day or two.
How many sessions will I need?
Most musculoskeletal conditions respond to three to six sessions spaced about a week apart. Simpler, newer problems sometimes settle in three; long-standing ones like chronic plantar fasciitis or calcific shoulders may need the full course. We’ll give you a realistic estimate after your evaluation rather than committing you to an open-ended plan.
When will I feel better?
Because shockwave works by stimulating healing rather than masking pain, the timeline is gradual. Many patients notice a meaningful change within two to three weeks, and the benefit tends to keep building for several weeks after the last session as the tissue finishes remodeling. It’s a repair process, not an on/off switch.
Is there any downtime?
None. You can drive yourself home and return to work the same day. We usually ask you to go easy on high-impact loading of the treated area for a day or two, but there are no incisions, stitches, or activity restrictions beyond that.
What’s the difference between focused shockwave and the radial “EPAT” type?
Focused shockwave concentrates energy at a precise depth, so it can reach deep tendons, calcium deposits, and bone. Radial pressure waves (often branded EPAT) keep their energy near the surface. For most chronic MSK problems we treat — rotator cuff, deep plantar fascia, Achilles — focused is the more capable tool, and that’s the Storz system we’ve run for over a decade. We keep radial available for cases that genuinely call for a broad, superficial treatment.
Who shouldn’t have shockwave therapy?
It isn’t appropriate during pregnancy, over an active infection or open wound, over a tumor, or for people on blood thinners or with certain clotting disorders. It’s also not used directly over major nerves or blood vessels. We screen for all of this at your evaluation — if shockwave isn’t the right call, we’ll tell you and point you toward what is.
Is shockwave therapy covered by insurance?
Coverage for ESWT varies by plan and by condition, and many carriers still classify it as out-of-pocket. We’ll explain the costs clearly before you start and help you understand your options — no surprises. Call us and we’ll walk you through it for your specific situation.
Can I do shockwave if I want to avoid surgery?
That’s one of the most common reasons people come in. For many chronic tendon problems, shockwave is a reasonable step to try before considering an operation, and the research on conditions like plantar fasciitis and calcific shoulder supports that. We’re happy to give you a straight read on whether it’s a sensible option in your case.
What patients say
Real experiences from patients we’ve treated for tendon and joint pain at West Hills.
“That stabbing heel pain the second my feet hit the floor in the morning had been going on for almost a year. I’d tried the night splint, new orthotics, two cortisone shots — it always crept back. After a few shockwave sessions I can finally walk my dog at 6am without limping to the kitchen first. I wish I’d come in months earlier instead of just resting it and hoping.”
“I’m not even a tennis player — mine came from lifting at the gym and a desk job. Gripping a coffee mug or shaking someone’s hand would send a jolt through my forearm. My ortho offered another cortisone injection and said to give it time. Shockwave actually went after the tendon itself. Three weeks in, the morning ache is basically gone and I’m back to deadlifts.”
“I couldn’t sleep on my left side, and reaching up to a cabinet was brutal. Imaging showed a calcium deposit in the rotator cuff, and the surgical consult was already on the table. Someone suggested I try shockwave first. The difference in how I can lift my arm overhead now is night and day, and I never had to schedule the surgery.”
“As a runner, the stiffness and pain at the back of my heel was wrecking my training. Stretching, new shoes, weeks off — nothing held. What I liked is that they explained why a chronic tendon doesn’t heal on its own and how the treatment kick-starts it. I’m back to my long runs without that ‘walking on a pebble’ feeling every morning.”
Ready to Deal With the Pain at the Source?
Book a shockwave therapy evaluation at our Huntington office. We’ll examine the injury, tell you honestly whether shockwave is the right fit, and lay out a clear plan.