Hello Hezz,
a lot of content has come together to arrive at the current state of knowledge. That is correct. There has been a lot of discussion and some things have been asked several times. Like from you at the moment. But I think it is not fair to the others to call these posts garbage posts.
This also has nothing to do with gatekeeping, but with the complexity of the topic. In the end, Kyrpä has done a tremendous job, both in terms of content and effort. Thank God (and Kyrpä) he presented it to us and that’s what we’re working with now. Then we were joined by many other smart people who shared their experience (thanks for that, too). And that is what we have in front of us now. I find it extremely exciting in what different directions this is going. What we are doing here is pioneering work and not simply applying state of the art.
How did this grow? Kyrpä simply posted his findings and then the thing went through the roof. Meanwhile, people expect a simple tutorial as if it were a matter of course. And at this point, you have to be fair. The information is all there and you can’t expect someone to take the time to write the tutorial that everyone understands. Moreover, one must not forget that this business with US & co. is not risk-free. Therefore, it is important to understand what you are doing and it is virtually a duty to deal intensively with the subject.
It also took me a lot of time to understand the connections and I am very sure that I have not understood everything yet. I, too, would have been happy to learn about the subject in a more compact way. But do I have the right to expect that? The answer is no.
But be that as it may, I have a few comments on your suggestion.
Your suggestion of the extender design has also been discussed. Kyrpä is working with it:
Stress Relaxation Extender
Kyrpa - Gaining volume 2
Kyrpa - Using the ultrasound for therapeutic heat in PE
What I don’t understand is what you mean by heating blanket. Is this due to my lack of language skills? If you mean a heating blanket as I understand it, your US pad makes no sense at all. The pad is meant to absorb the sound waves so they don’t reflect off the skin of the shaft. With a heating blanket as I understand it, there are no sound waves.
If you meant the US transducer and I’m just too stupid to understand, please accept my apologies. In case of US I can recommend you the following.
Heating problems with extender users
I have built myself a phantom from silicone with very good coupling properties.
US Phantom made of silicone
But in my opinion, these are only details of execution. Ultimately, it is about the following:
- Stress relaxation (SR) below the sweet spot where tissue stiffening begins. This is where the time frame of 30 min has settled in.
- SR above the sweet spot under therapeutic heat (Kyrpä has chosen US as the means of choice, there is also success with IR or RF), current recommendation 20 min
- Cool down under SR, current recommendation 10 min
As already mentioned, we are still pioneers and every new experience brings us further.