How Shockwave Therapy Works: Findings from the Venn Healthcare Innovations Meeting 2026
Why I'm sharing this
I recently attended the Venn Healthcare Innovations meeting in 2026, and one lecture changed how I explain shockwave therapy to patients.
The speaker, Dr Maximilian Murtinger, talked about what happens inside your body's cells when they receive a shockwave. I've turned my notes into plain English, so you can understand what is happening and why healing takes time.
What is shockwave therapy?
Shockwave therapy sends short, gentle pulses of pressure through the skin into a sore area, such as a tight tendon or irritated heel. It isn't electricity and it isn't heat. It's a quick mechanical push.
Different machines deliver the pulses in slightly different ways, but the basic idea is the same. The push is brief, and the clever part is how your body responds to it.
How your cells feel the wave
Think of each cell as a tiny room held in place by a web of fibres. Its outer wall grips the surrounding tissue, and inside there's a control centre called the nucleus, which holds your genetic instructions.
Inside the cell is a skeleton-like frame called the cytoskeleton. It isn't just scaffolding. It carries force, resists force and organises force, a bit like a spider's web: tap one thread and the ripple reaches the centre.
When a shockwave arrives, three things can happen:
The push can open tiny gates in the cell wall, called ion channels, and let signals in.
The push travels along the internal frame towards the nucleus.
The nucleus can then switch certain genes on or off, which changes how the cell behaves.
Scientists call this turning a physical push into a chemical message mechanotransduction. It's the main way researchers think shockwave works.
What happens after the pulse
The shockwave itself lasts a tiny fraction of a second, but your body's response keeps unfolding long afterwards. Broadly, it looks like this:
Milliseconds: The cell wall is pushed and tiny gates open, letting calcium in.
Seconds to minutes: Early messages travel inside the cell, and its internal frame tightens and reorganises.
Minutes to hours: Messengers reach the nucleus and start changing which genes are active. The cell begins preparing to build new proteins.
Hours to days: The cell adapts. It makes proteins, remodels the surrounding tissue and may produce more of the materials the tissue is made from.
These stages overlap and vary from person to person, so treat the timings as a guide, not a stopwatch. The key point is that a brief push can trigger a response that continues long after the treatment is over.
Why everyone responds differently
A cell responds to its current state and its history, not just to the push. Two people can have the same treatment and respond differently.
The talk suggested that cells in a healthy environment tend to respond well. Factors such as hormonal changes or reduced blood supply may make the response weaker or slower. This is why I always ask about your general health, not only your foot.
It also helps to know that remodelling isn't the same as regeneration. Remodelling means tissue changes in response to a signal. It can change in helpful ways or unhelpful ones, and the aim is to nudge it towards the helpful kind.
What this means for you
Healing is a process, not a moment. The changes build over hours and days, so please don't expect an instant result.
Tell me about your health. Circulation, hormones and medical history all shape how your tissue responds.
Shockwave works best as part of a plan. Exercise, load management and footwear still matter.
There are no guarantees. Researchers are still working out exactly how the push becomes a signal, and results vary from person to person.
In short
A shockwave is a brief push. Your cells feel it, pass the message inwards, and spend the next hours and days responding. Understanding that makes the treatment less mysterious and helps you set realistic expectations.
If you'd like to know whether shockwave therapy could suit you, get in touch with Yorkshire Foot Clinic and we'll talk it through at your assessment.
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