Advances of low-intensity pulsed ultrasound for treatment of musculoskeletal disorders in the past decade

doi:10.12122/j.issn.1673-4254.2025.03.24

Abstract

Abstract:

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are characterized by extensive pathological involvement and high prevalence and cause a significant disease burden. Long-term drug administration often causes by adverse effects with poor therapeutic efficacy. Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS), as a specialized therapeutic modality, delivers acoustic energy at a low intensity in a pulsed wave mode, thus ensuring stable energy transmission to the target tissues while minimizing thermal effects. This non-invasive approach has demonstrated significant potential for MSD treatment by delivering effective physical stimulations. Extensive animal and clinical studies have demonstrated the efficacy of LIPUS for accelerating the healing process of fresh fractures and nonunions, promoting soft tissue regeneration and suppressing inflammatory responses. Emerging evidence suggests promising applications of LIPUS in skeletal muscle injury treatment and promoting tissue regeneration and repair. This review outlines the recent advancements and mechanistic studies of LIPUS for treatment of common MSDs including fractures, nonunions, muscle injuries, and osteoarthritis, addressing also the technical parameters of commercially available LIPUS devices, current therapeutic approaches, the existing challenges, and future research directions.

Key words: low-intensity pulsed ultrasound, fracture and nonunion of bones, muscle injury regeneration and repair, osteoarthritis, clinical application

Liping FU, Lixia YUAN, Jie WANG, Xuelan CHEN, Guizhi KE, Yu HUANG, Xinyi YANG, Gang LIU. Advances of low-intensity pulsed ultrasound for treatment of musculoskeletal disorders in the past decade[J]. Journal of Southern Medical University, 2025, 45(3): 661-668.

Figures/Tables 3

References 67

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