Excellence Extra Corporeal Shockwave Therapy --ESWT-- Enables Patient to Enjoy More Exercise with Less Waist.

WOODSTOWN, N.J. -- It was about two years ago that David Berg of Lawrence, New York, at 57, was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. He was overweight and had high cholesterol. He was advised that to promote better health and a longer life he needed to trade his sedentary life style for one that included vigorous exercise. David started going regularly to a gym and also started running. "I found running a wonderful escape," he explained, "and it gave me the ability to lose pounds and maintain my weight while improving my red blood count." David said he started "looking good, feeling good with his numbers reading good."

There may be few things in life more disappointing, and more disconcerting than having an unbridled passion for physical activity interfered with by unrelenting pain. David developed pain in his right heel. He'd lay off running for 3-4 days but the pain would not go away. Finally he visited Dr. Arnold Hertz, a Long Island podiatrist whose initial protocol included icing, variations of stretching exercises and even cortisone shots. But the heel pain persisted leaving David unable to stand properly. He changed his walking style to accommodate the pain by leaning to one side with contorted posture. He became unhappy, grouchy at work and was almost always in pain. He gained back the weight he'd lost running.

Dr. Hertz had explained during David's conservative therapy regimen that a non-surgical treatment called Excellence Extra Corporeal Shock Wave Therapy (ESWT) would help him avoid surgery. David's excruciating heel pain, was attributed to the very painful condition called Plantar Fasciitis. People who have Plantar Fasciitis, a calcification formed by damage to the fascia, often have "heel spurs," which is a side effect but does not cause pain. The heel will hurt, feel hot or swell, producing pain that is a result of inflammation or microscopic tears of the plantar fascia. The fascia is a thin layer of tough tissue supporting the arch of the foot. It is fibrous like celery.

Typically with plantar fasciitis, the pain is worse, often unbearable, when first getting out of bed or any period of extended rest. Sometimes it is noticeable at the beginning of an activity and lessens in intensity as the body warms up.

An FDA approved treatment called Extra Corporeal Shock Wave Therapy, or ESWT, treats the condition using pulsing, high frequency shock waves in an 18-minute, non-surgical procedure. Thousands of patients have been treated by Excellence Shockwave Therapy in the last four years resulting in a dramatic success rate of 94%. As nothing else had helped and since the pain had David "thinking about jumping off of a cliff," he decided to try the procedure. "I was skeptical and felt a little bit anxious," Davis said, "but I was ready to try anything to relieve the pain."

The in-office procedure was so successful that David walked out of the doctor's office without pain and took a vacation trip to New Orleans. He spent five days walking around without a single incident of pain. On his return he rejoined the gym, went back on the treadmill, and started running again. About a year later he developed heel pain, this time in his left foot. He underwent an ESWT procedure on the other foot that had not been treated and now lifts weights and runs a 10-minute mile four times a week. He has lost more than 30 pounds, kept his blood sugar under control and has a normal range cholesterol level.

Podiatric surgeons like Dr. Hertz are certified by Excellence Shock Wave Therapy and receive comprehensive training developed by David Zuckerman, D.P.M., who introduced ESWT to his South Jersey practice in 1999. He was one of the very first American surgeons to use ESWT the United States, giving him an unsurpassed level of experience with this procedure. The training that physicians must undergo, along with their own individual ESWT experience, make the 45 members of Excellence Shock Wave Therapy group the most qualified practitioners in the nation.

Excellence Shock Wave Therapy, of Woodstown, New Jersey, serves its New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware network of Podiatric and Orthopedic Surgeons by delivering the necessary equipment to their offices in a State of the Art Mobile Treatment Center employed on-site or surgery center. The Excellence Shock Wave Therapy Mobile Treatment Center also provides comfort, safety and convenience for "tennis elbow" and Achilles tendonitis. A full time treatment technician is present to assist the physician with operating the equipment, further enhancing patient comfort.

David Berg, owner of Serving for Lawyers in Garden City, New York, knows about the highs delivered by jogging and running, and the terrible lows created by foot pain that kept him from walking properly let alone run. But David's story, like that of many others, has a happy ending thanks to Excellence Shockwave Therapy (ESWT) and the regimen that puts foot pain to rest.

For more information contact Denise Ashcraft, Excellence Shockwave Therapy, [phone] Extension 101.