Sports & Work Injury Specialists. 

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(03) 541 0050

 

Your doctor, physio, osteopath, chiropractor, podiatrist or other specialist may send you for a scan if you have recently had an injury and/or are experiencing on-going pain in a specific region. Areas commonly examined by ultrasound include: shoulder (rotator cuff), elbow, wrist, hand, hip, groin, knee, ankle, foot and localised areas of pain, lumps or swelling which may be associated with muscle tear, injury, foreign body, growth or hernia. Research has found that ultrasound is more accurate in diagnosing Rheumatoid arthritis in small joints than plain x-ray and is increasingly used for this purpose.
No preparation is required for musculoskeletal scans, but please dress appropriately for the region being scanned.

You get $20 off a shiatsu session when you have your diagnostic musculoskeletal ultrasound with us.

Musculoskeletal scans what can we see/assess?

Shoulder (rotator cuff)

  • Long head of biceps tendon - rupture, tears, reinsertion, tendinopathy, sheath fluid, subluxation out of the groove, biceps muscle atrophy
  • Rotator cuff tendons - subscapularis, supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor - rupture, tears, tendinopathy
  • Bursitis - dynamic assessment of impingement as well as assessment of severity
  • AC joint - degeneration, stability on forward flexion, synovitis, arthritis, ganglionic cyst
  • CA ligament - rupture, sprain
  • Glenoid labrum - labral tear (only if obvious), joint fluid (which may indicate labral tear)
  • Notches - spinoglenoid and supraspinus - fluid or cyst formation due to joint fluid

Cortisone injection

You may be offered an ultrasound guided cortisone injection following your scan - depending on the diagnosis. This service carries a surcharge of $180 (unless on a community services card). Injecting cortisone (anti-inflammatory) to the site of inflammation can get you pain-free sooner.

After your injection you may experience numbness around the site for 1-2 hours, and a feeling of heaviness. Results are not immediate it can take between 24 hours and 3 days for the injection to be effective.

After your injection you are advised to rest your arm for 6 hours and limit the use of your arm for 1-3 days.

Elbow

  • Lateral epicondilitis/Tennis elbow/extensor tendinosis - diagnosis, tears, inflammation (tendinitis), severity
  • Medial epicondilitis/Golfer's elbow/flexor tendinosis - diagnosis, tears, inflammation (tendinitis), severity
  • Distal insertion of biceps - tendinopathy, rupture, partial tear
  • Joint - fluid, spurs (sometimes seen), arthritic changes, synovitis
  • Triceps insertion - tendinopathy, rupture, partial tear
  • Olecronon bursa - bursitis, foreign body, infection, gout
  • Ulnar nerve - subluxation, swelling, inflammation, bifid

Wrist/Hand

  • Tendons - tendinosis, tenosynovitis (including De Quervain's), intersection syndrome
  • Median nerve - carpal tunnel syndrome
  • Ulnar nerve - enlargement, dragging on flexion
  • Joints - fluid, meniscal cyst/tear, ganglionic cysts, arthritic changes, synovitis
  • Foreign body localisation
  • Pulleys - sometimes pulleys can be visualised and assessed for function

Hip/Thigh/Buttocks/Groin

  • Joint - synovitis, joint effusion, slipped epiphosis (can be seen on occasion but ultrasound is not the diagnostic tool, it would need to be confirmed with Xray)
  • Labrum - cyst/tear
  • Hernia - inguinal, femoral
  • Tendons - insertional tendinopathy, tears, ruptures
  • Bursa - bursitis (trochanteric, iliopsoas, sub-gluteus medius, ischiogluteal)
  • Nerves - lateral cutaneous nerve, sciatic nerve (the sciatic nerve can be difficult to scan in large patients and when it is not enlarged) - enlargement or inflammation of the nerve

Knee

  • Tendons - tendinopathy, tears
  • Bursa - bursitis (prepatella, infrapatella, pes anserinus, iliotibial, biceps femoris)
  • Joint - effusion
  • Meniscus - medial and lateral menisci can be assessed for bulging, normal appearance, possible tears, cysts
  • Ligaments - lateral and medial colateral ligaments - sprain, tear, Osgood Schlatters

Ankle

  • Tendons - tendinopathy, tears, tenosynovitis
  • Joint - effusion, synovitis, arthritic changes, ganglionic cyst, spurs are sometimes seen (Achilles insertion)
  • Ligaments - sprain, tears
  • Nerve - tarsal tunnel syndrome

Foot

  • Tendons - tendinopahty, tears, tenosynovitis, Plantar fasciitis, plantar fibromatosis
  • Joints - effusion, synovitis, arthritic changes, ganglionic cyst, spurs are sometimes seen (plantar fascia insertion)
  • Nerve - Morton's neuroma
  • Bursa - interstitial bursitis, intermetatarsal bursitis
  • Plantar plates - tears
  • Foreign body localisation