The list of potential applications for ultrasound is impressive, ranging from non-invasive surgery , to pain therapy, to Alzheimer's treatment . Most recently, doctors in Glasgow, Scotland — the city in which ultrasound was pioneered as a diagnostic tool in the 1950s — started using the technology to heal broken bones, with promising results.
Doctors at Glasgow Royal Infirmary are using ultrasound technology to help heal fractures. The treatment is painless and has yielded impressive results. BBC reports that one man — who fell 20 feet from a water tank and broke his ankle in eight pieces — was offered the ultrasound treatment and was back on his feet within months. Doctors say that the treatment sped up the recovery time by about 40 percent.
Because the technology is costly, it is only being used on complex fractures at the hospital — but that may quickly change, as the market for portable and affordable ultrasound expands.
