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Living with chronic lower back pain can be frustrating and exhausting. You’ve tried rest, exercises, maybe even painkillers or injections – yet that nagging ache persists. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Lower back pain affects up to 20% of people worldwide at any given time, often becoming a stubborn chronic issue. The good news is there’s a promising approach making waves in pain relief: shockwave therapy for lower back pain. In this post, we’ll explore how shockwave therapy works and what makes it different from other modalities you may have tried. Our goal is to give you an evidence-based, honest look at why shockwave therapy may help where other treatments haven’t – and how our team at Unpain Clinic combines it with holistic care to tackle back pain from every angle.
Lower back pain isn’t just an inconvenience – it’s a complex condition that can stem from various causes. Sometimes there’s a clear injury or diagnosis (like a herniated disc or sciatica), but in about 90% of cases the exact cause is “non-specific” – meaning no obvious structural culprit shows up on tests. Despite this, the pain is very real and can become chronic (lasting >3 months). Chronic lower back pain often turns into a vicious cycle: the initial pain alters how your muscles fire, leading to protective spasms, weakness, and tightness. This muscle imbalance can destabilize your spine, affecting posture and movement control. Over time, poor movement patterns and prolonged inflammation result in adhesions and scar tissue in the muscles and fascia, as well as reduced blood flow to the area. All of these factors can perpetuate pain even after the original injury has “healed.” No wonder your back pain keeps flaring up – the body’s normal healing process has essentially gotten stuck in first gear.
Traditional treatments for back pain (like rest, heat packs, TENS, or pain medications) focus mainly on symptom relief. While they can help temporarily, they often fail to address those underlying issues – the muscle imbalances, adhesions, and chronic inflammation that keep the pain coming back. As our podcast “Pain and Beyond: Exploring the Body’s Complexities” explains, too many therapies “treat the symptom, not the cause.” Patients go through ice, pills, or rubs and at best get short-lived relief. The real problem – the why behind the pain – remains unresolved. It’s no surprise, then, that pain returns once the quick fix wears off.
To truly break free from chronic lower back pain, we need to uncover and treat the root causes of the pain. This could mean releasing scar tissue from old injuries or surgeries, re-balancing muscle groups, improving spine mechanics, and reactivating stalled healing processes in the tissues. Simply put: lasting relief comes from healing the dysfunctions that are causing the pain, not just numbing the pain signals. This is exactly the philosophy at Unpain Clinic. We look beyond “where it hurts” to find why it hurts. Often, that means examining the whole body – for example, a stiff hip or weak core muscles might be placing extra strain on your lower back. In other cases, an old scar (like from abdominal surgery) could be restricting normal tissue movement and contributing to back pain. By taking this big-picture view and using advanced therapies to reset the body’s healing, we aim to get you off the merry-go-round of chronic pain.
So, where does shockwave therapy fit in? Shockwave therapy (specifically Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy, ESWT) is a non-invasive treatment that sends high-energy acoustic waves into injured or painful tissue. Unlike passive modalities that just provide temporary comfort (e.g. hot packs or TENS), shockwaves stimulate biological changes in the tissue to kick-start repair. Over the past decade, researchers have been testing ESWT for chronic low back pain – and the results are very encouraging.
Multiple high-quality studies (randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses) have found that shockwave therapy can significantly reduce pain and improve function in chronic back pain patients. For instance, a 2023 systematic review pooled 12 RCTs with 632 patients and concluded that shockwave therapy led to greater pain relief and better lumbar function compared to the control interventions. Patients who received shockwave reported less pain at 4 and 12 weeks, and improved ability to bend and move, versus those who got placebo or standard therapies. Importantly, no serious adverse effects were noted – suggesting shockwave is a safe option for chronic low back pain.
Another meta-analysis found similarly positive outcomes: people treated with ESWT had lower pain scores and disability scores than those who received sham therapy, with improvements maintained at 1–3 months follow-up. In that analysis, shockwave-treated patients’ disability (Oswestry index) improved more, and their pain levels were on average 2+ points lower on a 0–10 scale compared to controls. The authors concluded that ESWT “is effective in alleviating pain and improving functional state” for low back pain. They did call for more research on long-term safety, but so far shockwave appears to have only minimal, temporary side effects (like short-term soreness) and no known serious long-term risks.
What about comparing shockwave to other modalities? There’s evidence that shockwave therapy can outperform some standard physio treatments. A 2022 randomized trial split chronic back pain patients into two groups: one got “conventional” therapy (TENS, therapeutic ultrasound, and hot packs), the other got weekly shockwave sessions. After 12 weeks, the shockwave group had significantly greater improvements in pain relief, spinal flexibility, and daily function than the conventional therapy group. In fact, the researchers concluded ESWT was superior to standard physio modalities for chronic lower back pain. This suggests that the effects of shockwave go beyond what you get from surface-level treatments like heat or electrical stimulation. Shockwaves penetrate deeper and trigger a regenerative response (we’ll explain the science shortly), which may be why patients get more meaningful relief.
It’s also worth noting that shockwave therapy is non-invasive and drug-free. This sets it apart from more aggressive interventions like steroid injections or surgery. Epidural steroid injections, for example, might give fast pain relief in back pain, but they carry risks (infection, tissue weakening) and often the benefit is only temporary. One clinical study on knee pain found a steroid shot relieved pain faster than shockwave in the first few weeks, but by 8 weeks the shockwave-treated patients had caught up and the steroid’s benefit had plateaued. And repeated steroid use can have downsides. Shockwave’s pain relief tends to build gradually and last longer by actually healing tissue rather than just dampening inflammation for a short while. In essence, shockwave therapy offers a chance at sustained improvement – often succeeding where rest, medication, and even injections have failed. It’s not a magic “quick fix,” but over several weeks it can lead to durable pain reduction by treating the underlying problem.
Why does shockwave therapy achieve these results? The key is in its unique mechanism of action. Shockwave therapy harnesses a principle called mechanotransduction – meaning mechanical energy (sound waves) is converted into biological signals in your body. When we deliver focused shockwaves to tight or damaged tissues in the lower back, it’s like sending a wake-up call to your cells. The shockwaves create tiny micro-traumas in the area, which might sound counterintuitive, but this controlled stimulation triggers the body’s natural healing response.
Here are some of the healing effects of shockwave therapy that set it apart from other modalities:
Increases Blood Circulation: Shockwaves cause blood vessels to widen and even stimulate the growth of new microvessels (angiogenesis). Within weeks, the treated area can develop 200–300% more blood flow, bringing oxygen and nutrients to speed up repair. (In comparison, a hot pack might briefly increase circulation at the skin level, but it won’t create new blood vessels deep in your muscles like shockwaves do.)
Breaks Down Scar Tissue: The acoustic waves help break up adhesions and calcifications in soft tissues. Chronic lower back pain often involves knots and scar tissue in muscles or ligaments (for example, from past strains or surgeries). Shockwave therapy can literally shatter these restrictive fibers, whereas most other treatments (massage, ultrasound) can only affect superficial tissue or temporarily soften it. By clearing out scar tissue, shockwaves remove barriers to healing and restore mobility.
Triggers Cellular Repair: Shockwaves prompt cells to release growth factors and attract stem cells to the area. Over about 8–12 weeks, there’s a surge in collagen production and tissue regeneration as your body heals the targeted area. Think of it as turning a chronic, stagnant injury into an acute injury that your body knows how to heal. This regenerative effect is something you simply don’t get with an electric TENS unit or a heating pad.
Analgesic Effect (Pain Relief): Interestingly, shockwave therapy also helps desensitize nerves and reduce pain signaling. The energy from the waves can diminish substance P (a pain neurotransmitter) and remodel nerve fibers, resulting in pain reduction. Patients often report that their back feels looser and less painful after a few sessions – partly due to mechanical release of tension, and partly due to this neurological effect that calms pain pathways. And unlike pain medications, shockwave achieves this without systemic side effects.
In summary, shockwave therapy is different because it doesn’t just mask pain – it actively stimulates the body to repair and rebuild. It’s addressing root causes (poor blood flow, scarring, chronic inflammation) on a physiological level. This contrasts with many conventional modalities for back pain, which mainly provide short-term comfort or temporary muscle relaxation without lasting tissue change.
Of course, shockwave therapy isn’t a standalone miracle cure. At Unpain Clinic we’ve found it works best as part of a comprehensive plan, tailored to each patient. Let’s look at how we combine shockwave with other cutting-edge treatments to maximize relief for lower back pain.
At Unpain Clinic, our approach to lower back pain is holistic and personalized. Shockwave therapy is often a cornerstone – but we never rely on just one modality. Pain is multi-faceted, so our treatment plans are too. Here are the key therapies we use (often in combination) to tackle lower back pain from all angles:
Focused Shockwave Therapy (ESWT): We use true focused shockwave devices (the same technology used for kidney stones, but adapted for musculoskeletal therapy). This is important because many clinics use radial “pressure wave” machines and call it shockwave, but those only penetrate ~1–2 inches and mainly treat superficial tissue. Focused shockwaves penetrate much deeper (up to ~5 inches) without losing energy. This means we can reach deep low-back muscles, vertebral ligaments, and attachment points that radial waves or ultrasound can’t effectively target. During a session, our therapists will apply a probe to the skin over your painful areas (e.g. around the lumbar spine, hips or SI joints) and deliver pulses of shockwaves. We adjust the intensity to keep you comfortable (usually aiming for about a “3–4 out of 10” sensation). Over several sessions, shockwave helps break down deep adhesions, improve circulation, and trigger healing in your lower back tissues. Many patients start to feel improvement after 2–3 sessions – like better mobility and less morning stiffness – and significant pain reduction after a full course (typically 4–6 sessions). And remember, shockwave’s effects continue developing for weeks as new blood vessels form and collagen remodels your tissue.
EMTT (Electromagnetic Transduction Therapy): This is a cutting-edge magnetic field therapy we often pair with shockwave. Think of EMTT as a complementary tool to further calm inflammation and pain in a broad area. While shockwave pinpoints specific spots with mechanical energy, EMTT bathes the region in high-frequency pulsed electromagnetic fields. It’s entirely painless – you just sit or lie with a loop coil near your back. EMTT helps to modulate inflammation at the cellular level, encouraging tissue recovery. For stubborn lower back pain, especially if there’s widespread muscle tension or nerve sensitivity, adding EMTT can enhance the overall healing effect. Patients often report that the combination of shockwave + EMTT leads to faster and greater relief than shockwave alone, likely because EMTT reduces swelling and sensitization in the area.
Neuromodulation Techniques: Chronic back pain can make your nervous system dial up the “volume” on pain signals – a phenomenon called central sensitization. We incorporate neuromodulation therapies to help “reset” overactive nerves and restore a normal pain threshold. This can include specialized electric nerve stimulation, therapeutic laser, or even pain neuroscience education techniques. The goal is to gently retrain your nerves to not over-react to movement or pressure. Many of these treatments are quite soothing; for example, patients often feel gentle warmth or tingling, but no significant discomfort during our neuromodulation sessions. By calming the nervous system, we reduce that persistent pain amplification that often plagues chronic back pain sufferers. Essentially, we’re teaching your body that it’s safe to move again.
Hands-On Manual Therapy: Technology is fantastic, but there’s still an important place for hands-on care. Our physiotherapists and chiropractors use manual therapy techniques to address joint and soft tissue restrictions. This might include spinal joint mobilization or gentle chiropractic adjustments, myofascial release, and trigger point therapy on tight muscles. For someone with lower back pain, we often examine and treat not just the low back, but also the pelvis, hips, and mid-back. Manual therapy helps improve joint alignment and muscle flexibility, relieving strain on the painful area. By loosening tight fascia and improving mobility, we actually prime your body to respond better to the shockwave and exercise therapies. It’s like clearing the road of bumps so that the other therapies can drive results home more effectively.
Targeted Exercise & Rehabilitation: No back pain treatment is complete without addressing movement and strength. Our team will guide you through custom exercises to reinforce proper movement patterns and prevent re-injury. For lower back issues, this typically means activating the deep core stabilizers, glutes, and hip muscles, as well as improving your hamstring and hip-flexor flexibility. We might start with simple pelvic tilts, bridges, or lumbar rotations to restore mobility, then progress to core strengthening and hip stability drills. If certain muscles are weak or “asleep,” shockwave can even be used in a technique called “activation shockwave” to recruit those muscles by stimulating their nerve supply (for example, waking up a dormant glute muscle). By the end of a rehab program, you should have better posture and a more resilient spine. Exercise therapy is crucial because it helps maintain your results long after you finish treatment – it addresses the functional weaknesses that may have led to your back pain in the first place. We’ll also coach you on ergonomics (like proper lifting form or desk setup) so that you’re not unknowingly sabotaging your back during daily life.
This multimodal approach – combining shockwave with EMTT, neuromodulation, hands-on care, and exercise – is what truly sets Unpain Clinic apart. We don’t believe in chasing symptoms or using one-size-fits-all protocols. Instead, every patient gets a thorough initial assessment (head-to-toe) to identify all contributing factors to their pain. Then we create a tailored plan which may include one or all of the therapies above, adjusted as you progress. The result? We’re not just temporarily reducing your back pain; we’re actively fixing the reasons why it developed, thereby aiming for long-term relief.
To understand how this works in practice, let’s look at an example (name changed for privacy). “Susan” came to us with 5 years of chronic lower back pain. She’s a 45-year-old nurse who spends long hours on her feet. Her pain started after the birth of her second child (via C-section) and gradually worsened. By the time she visited Unpain Clinic, Susan had tried physiotherapy, chiropractic adjustments, massage, and regular exercises. These helped only temporarily – the back pain always crept back, especially during busy shifts or when lifting her toddler. Understandably, Susan was getting discouraged and feared she might need surgery to ever feel normal again.
During her initial assessment, we took the time to really investigate Susan’s whole body. We found that, in addition to tight lower back muscles, she had significant weakness in her deep core (likely from her abdominal surgery) and very stiff scar tissue along her C-section incision. In fact, that scar seemed to be tethering some connective tissues that relate to lower back movement. We explained to Susan that the old scar could be part of the reason her back never fully healed – it was creating tension and an imbalance in her core mechanics (a phenomenon our podcast has touched on regarding how scar tissue can affect other parts of the body). This was a lightbulb moment for her, as no one had connected those dots before.
We designed a plan for Susan that included focused shockwave therapy on her lower abdomen (scar area), hip flexors, and lower back. The goal was to soften the scar tissue and boost healing in the strained back muscles. We also did sessions of EMTT for general anti-inflammatory effect, manual therapy to gently mobilize her pelvis and spine, and taught her specific core activation exercises. After 3 shockwave sessions, Susan started noticing she could get through her workday with less back ache. She was surprised that even her digestive comfort improved – likely because releasing those adhesions around her scar helped everything move better. By session 5, she reported being virtually pain-free in the mornings (a time that used to be the worst for her). We even did a little happy dance when Susan told us she had picked up her child without pain – something she hadn’t done in years!
At a 3-month follow-up, Susan remained about 80–90% pain-free and had returned to light jogging on weekends. She continues to do her core exercises and comes in for an “maintenance” shockwave tune-up every few months. Her story shows how combining shockwave with a holistic approach can truly reboot the healing process. By treating the scar and muscle imbalances (the hidden culprits), we helped Susan break the cycle of “feel better, then flare up again.” Now she can focus on enjoying life with her kids, rather than constantly worrying about her back giving out.
(Individual results vary, of course, and not every case is the same. But successes like Susan’s highlight the potential of shockwave therapy when used as part of a comprehensive, root-cause-focused treatment.)
Healing doesn’t end when you leave our clinic – what you do at home can make a big difference in your results. We empower our patients with simple, safe steps to support their recovery between visits. Here are some at-home tips we often recommend for lower back pain:
Keep Moving (Gently): It might be tempting to stay in bed when your back hurts, but gentle movement actually promotes healing. Continue with any home exercises or stretches your therapist prescribed. For example, you might do pelvic tilts, knee-to-chest stretches, or cat-cow movements daily to keep your spine flexible. Gentle movement keeps blood flowing and prevents stiffness from setting in. Just avoid any exercise that causes sharp pain – the key is comfortable, pain-free range of motion.
Listen to Your Body: After shockwave therapy or a workout, it’s normal to feel a bit sore in the treated area for a day or two – similar to post-workout muscle soreness. This mild soreness (and even a little temporary swelling) is actually a sign that healing is underway. Use an ice pack for 10–15 minutes if needed to ease soreness, but try to avoid heavy use of anti-inflammatory meds unless advised by your provider. A little inflammation is part of the regenerative process! Also, prioritize rest and good sleep, as that’s when your body repairs itself. If a certain activity or stretch causes sharp or worsening pain, stop doing it and let your therapist know. We want you to challenge your body gradually, not aggravate it.
Stay Hydrated and Nourished: Drinking plenty of water and eating a balanced diet helps your tissues heal optimally. Think of hydration and nutrition as giving your body the building blocks it needs to repair. Adequate protein intake (for muscle and collagen repair) and anti-inflammatory foods (like fruits, veggies, omega-3s) can support recovery. We often remind patients to stay hydrated and fuel their “construction crew” with quality nutrients so that healing can progress efficiently. On the flip side, excessive alcohol or a high sugar/junk food diet might slow down your body’s repair mechanisms.
Ergonomics and Posture: Little changes in your daily routine can prevent a lot of strain on your lower back. Pay attention to your sitting posture – if you work at a desk, ensure your chair provides good lumbar support or use a small cushion behind your lower back. When lifting objects (even light ones), practice bending at the knees and hips rather than hinging from your lower back. An ergonomic workspace or supportive devices (like a lumbar roll, or a standing desk converter to break up sitting time) can reduce daily stress on your back. We’ll gladly advise you on specific ergonomic tips based on your lifestyle. By maintaining good posture and body mechanics, you’ll help keep the benefits of your treatments going strong.
Remember, these home strategies are meant to complement your in-clinic treatments. Always follow the personalized instructions given by your provider. If any home exercise causes pain beyond mild discomfort, pause and consult us. The journey to recovery is a partnership – with the right balance of professional therapy and self-care, you’ll be set up for success.
Shockwave therapy is generally very well-tolerated. During treatment, you’ll feel a series of rapid tapping or pulsing sensations on your skin. Some spots can be a bit tender (for example, if we’re treating near a tight knot or bone), but we adjust the intensity to keep it tolerable – aiming for roughly a 3–4 out of 10 on your discomfort scale, as mentioned earlier. Most patients describe it as strange but not painful. After a session, it’s common to have mild soreness or swelling in the treated area, similar to the feeling after a good deep-tissue massage or a workout. These effects usually fade within a day or two. In fact, a bit of soreness indicates the body is responding and healing. The great news is that shockwave therapy has no known serious long-term side effects. Unlike medications, it isn’t taxing on your liver or kidneys, and unlike surgery, there’s no incision or recovery downtime. Aside from the temporary local soreness (and occasional minor bruising in very few cases), it’s a safe, non-invasive treatment. We will review your medical history to ensure you’re an appropriate candidate (for example, we avoid using shockwave over an active infection, near pacemakers, or over pregnancy areas), but for the vast majority of people, it’s a low-risk therapy.
The number of sessions can vary depending on the chronicity and cause of your back pain, but most treatment plans involve about 3 to 6 sessions of shockwave therapy for chronic lower back pain. In our clinic, we often start with a protocol of 3 sessions spaced about 1 week apart, then reassess your progress. Many patients notice some improvement after the first 1–2 sessions (for example, a bit less pain or the ability to move easier). However, completing the full course is important to achieve lasting benefits. Shockwave’s effects are cumulative – each session builds on the previous. We also need to allow time between sessions for the biological effects (new blood vessel growth, collagen stimulation) to unfold. Typically, maximal healing from shockwave occurs around 6–12 weeks after starting treatment, as your body regenerates tissue. So even after you finish the sessions, you may continue to feel additional improvement for weeks. If your pain is significantly better after 3–4 sessions, we might space out or stop treatment and monitor. If some pain persists, we can do a few more sessions or combine other therapies accordingly. Every individual is different – your therapist will tailor the plan and will be honest about what you can expect. The goal is to use the fewest sessions necessary to jump-start healing and get you to a point where exercise and self-management keep you improving.
In many cases, yes. At Unpain Clinic, shockwave therapy is delivered by licensed physiotherapists or chiropractors as part of an overall treatment plan. Therefore, we can bill it under physiotherapy or chiropractic coverage – it doesn’t require a separate “shockwave” insurance code. Most extended health benefit plans in Canada include coverage for physiotherapy or chiropractic visits, and since shockwave is an accepted treatment provided by these professionals, it’s usually eligible. We also offer direct billing to many insurance companies, which makes the process easier for you (we can help verify your coverage for physio/chiro). It’s always a good idea to check your specific plan details – for example, some plans might have an annual cap or require a doctor’s note for physio treatment. But generally, cost shouldn’t be a barrier to trying shockwave therapy. If you’re unsure about your benefits, our administrative team can assist you in figuring out what’s covered. We believe in transparency, so you’ll know up front about any out-of-pocket costs. Many patients are pleasantly surprised that this advanced treatment is accessible through their standard health benefits!
Shockwave therapy is not a direct treatment for the disc itself (it won’t “un-herniate” a disc or eliminate a disc bulge), but it can help with the soft-tissue and referral pain aspects of disc-related back pain. Often, a herniated disc causes not only nerve pain (sciatica) but also reactive muscle spasm and inflammation in the lower back and gluteal region. Shockwave therapy can be used on those tight, protective muscles – for example, the lumbar paraspinals, piriformis, or hamstrings – to relieve muscle tension and improve blood flow. By easing the muscular component, many patients experience less overall pain and better mobility even if the disc issue is still present. Additionally, shockwave may promote a healing environment around the disc by increasing circulation to the area (discs have poor blood supply, so anything that improves local blood flow can be beneficial). It’s also effective for treating facet joint pain or sacroiliac (SI) joint dysfunction, which can mimic disc pain. That said, if you have a large disc herniation with severe nerve compression, you’ll need a comprehensive medical evaluation. Shockwave can be one tool in a broader plan – often combined with guided exercises to alleviate nerve pressure, and medical interventions if needed. In summary, shockwave can help with certain aspects of disc-related pain (especially muscle spasm and localized pain), but it works best as part of a multi-faceted approach. Always consult a healthcare provider for a proper diagnosis; at Unpain Clinic we’ll assess whether shockwave is appropriate for your specific case of sciatica or disc pain.
This is a great question, as these therapies can seem similar on the surface – all are used in physiotherapy clinics for pain, but they have distinct mechanisms and effects. Ultrasound therapy uses high-frequency sound waves to produce deep heating in tissues. It can increase blood flow slightly and may help with temporary pain relief by warming the area, but it does not cause the same mechanical tissue disruption or regenerative response as shockwave. Think of ultrasound as a gentle nudging of cells (mostly for short-term comfort), whereas shockwave is a strong wake-up call that triggers new healing. Studies have found shockwave therapy tends to provide superior pain relief and functional improvement compared to ultrasound in chronic conditions. Similarly, TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) works by sending electrical pulses through pads on your skin to modulate nerve signals. TENS can definitely help reduce pain while it’s on – it’s basically “noise-cancelling” some of the pain signals to your brain. However, its effects usually last only a short time after usage and it doesn’t actively heal tissues. It’s a pain management tool. Shockwave, in contrast, causes a cascade of physiological healing events as we discussed (angiogenesis, collagen stimulation, etc.). One clinical trial explicitly showed shockwave therapy provided better pain relief and functional gains in chronic back pain than a combination of TENS, ultrasound, and heat therapy. That illustrates the difference: shockwave’s impact goes beyond temporary relief – it initiates repair processes that continue improving your condition even after therapy sessions. In practice, we sometimes use modalities like TENS for short-term relief in acute pain, but for chronic back pain our focus is on interventions like shockwave that move the needle in terms of true healing.
Chronic lower back pain can take a huge toll on your life – but it doesn’t have to be a life sentence. Modern research and our clinical experience indicate that shockwave therapy is unlocking relief for many people by doing something different: instead of just numbing pain, it helps your body heal the pain at its source. By stimulating blood flow, breaking down the barriers to healing, and resetting the inflammatory process, shockwave therapy addresses underlying causes of back pain in a way that medications or quick fixes simply can’t. And when we combine this technology with a caring, whole-body approach (looking at why your back hurts, not just where it hurts), the results can be life-changing.
If you’re tired of the cycle of pain and are ready for a fresh start, know that you don’t have to stay stuck in “tried everything, still hurting.” There is hope through innovative, evidence-based therapies like shockwave – and our dedicated team is here to guide you every step of the way. Every person’s healing journey is unique, and results may vary, but one thing stays constant: our commitment to finding your root cause and empowering you with solutions.
Disclaimer: This blog is for educational purposes and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Results may vary from person to person. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider to determine the best treatment for your specific condition.
Book Your Initial Assessment NowAt Unpain Clinic, we don’t just ask “Where does it hurt?” — we uncover “Why does it hurt?”
If you’ve been frustrated by the cycle of “try everything, feel nothing,” this assessment is for you. We take a whole-body approach so you leave with clarity, not more questions.
✅ What’s Included
Comprehensive history & goal setting
Orthopedic & muscle testing (head-to-toe)
Motion analysis
Imaging decisions (if needed)
Pain pattern mapping
Personalized treatment roadmap
Benefit guidance
🕑 Important Details
60 minutes, assessment only
No treatment in this visit
👩⚕️ Who You’ll See
A licensed Registered Physiotherapist or Chiropractor
🔜 What Happens Next
If you’re a fit, we schedule your first treatment and start executing your plan.
🌟 Why Choose Unpain Clinic
Whole-body assessment, not symptom-chasing
Root-cause focus, not temporary relief
Non-invasive where possible
No long-term upsells — just honest, effective care
🎯 Outcome
You’ll walk out knowing:
What’s wrong
Why it hurts
The fastest path to fix it
Author: Uran Berisha, BSc PT, RMT, Shockwave Expert
1. Liu K. et al. (2023). Efficacy and safety of extracorporeal shockwave therapy in chronic low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 632 patients. J. Orthop. Surg. Res. 18(1):455. DOI: 10.1186/s13018-023-03943-x .
2. Kızıltaş Ö. et al. (2022). Comparison of conventional physical therapy and shockwave therapy in chronic low back pain. Turk J Phys Med Rehab. 68(3): 314-324. PMID: 36475112 .
3. Wu B. et al. (2022). Effectiveness and safety of extracorporeal shock wave treatment for low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs. The Spine Journal 22(10): 1688-1698. DOI: 10.1016/j.spinee.2022.04.006 .
4. Unpain Clinic Podcast Episode #15 (2025). Pain and Beyond: Exploring the Body’s Complexities – Hosted by Uran Berisha, with Jillian H., Oct 15, 2025 .
5. Unpain Clinic (2024). Unlock Pain Relief: How Shockwave Therapy Transforms Healing (Blog post, Dec 2, 2024) .
6. Unpain Clinic (2025). True Shockwave Therapy at Unpain Clinic (Blog post, Dec 1, 2025) .
7. Taheri M. et al. (2021). Focused shockwave therapy for chronic low back pain (RCT results). Clin Interv Aging. 16: 1425-1433. (Demonstrates shockwave vs sham + exercise) .
8. Cho Y. et al. (2018). Comparative effectiveness of ESWT on chronic low back pain. Medicina (Kaunas) 54(5): 86. (Shockwave shown to reduce pain and improve function in CLBP compared to control) .
