Written & Reviewed by
Dr. Choe Jeongheon
General Surgeon · Orthopedic Clinic Director · MD, PhD
Founder of MADI-BONE CLINIC, Seoul. 10+ years of experience in musculoskeletal medicine and private orthopedic care.
This Time It Was My Wrist
On the way home from work, my own wrist suddenly hurt.
No trauma. No excessive load.
Yet, a dull ache + occasional electric tingle.
Extension (bending wrist toward the back of the hand) made it worse.
Even driving home was noticeably painful.
Because this is literally what I treat every day — I knew exactly what structure is suspicious:
TFCC (Triangular Fibrocartilage Complex).
TFCC lesions are a well-described clinical entity in wrist pain.
Konradsen L, TFCC lesion review (PubMed)
I Decided to Receive ESWT
Next morning, I came to my clinic and received ESWT (Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy) — as a patient.
Our physical therapy team is very precise and they do this every day.
As a doctor, I could do it myself.
But I wanted the real patient experience → being treated, trusting the provider, feeling the process.
How we do it (Step by Step)
- palpate → locate maximal tender point
- apply gel for proper acoustic coupling
- deliver focused shockwave onto TFCC region
That “therapeutic pain” sensation means the energy is being delivered into the correct tissue plane.
Shockwave is evidence-based for musculoskeletal pain:
Shockwave for MSK disorders (PubMed)
Improvement Timeline (Realistic)
After session #1 → I felt ~30~40% symptom relief.
But ESWT is **not** a single-shot quick fix.
Standard protocol (and what I personally follow now):
2–3 sessions/week × ≥2 weeks.
Pain pattern usually behaves like:
↓ down — ↑ up — ↓ down — ↑ up — then gradually ↓ overall.
Being the Patient Reminded Me Something Important
Having wrist pain myself made me understand patients even deeper.
Small joints can ruin the entire day.
MADI-BONE CLINIC (Gangnam, Seolleung Station)
MADI-BONE CLINIC
3rd Floor, 428 Seolleung-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
Seolleung Station (Line 2), Exit 1 — ~3 minutes on foot
02-736-2626
⏰ Mon–Fri 09:30–18:30 / Sat 09:30–13:00 / Closed Sundays & Public Holidays
This article was written by the physician himself based on his own acute wrist pain episode and receiving ESWT as a real patient.
All medical contents are clinical education, not a replacement for individual medical assessment.
