Ultrasound treatment for mastitis is becoming increasingly common. It’s something we have been doing in our clinic for over 6 years. It’s a great tool but also has it’s limitations. Read on to find out why.
Mastitis being an inflammation and/or infection of the breast tissues consequently creates a backlog of fluid. This fluid may feel like a swelling, or a lumpy tissue, and you may think it is milk. In fact, it is not. The fluid you are feeling is outside the milk ducts and is due to the process of mastitis (see more on mastitis here). The purpose for the ultrasound is to jiggle the congested fluid in the breast tissues, and also to heat the area locally.
The ultrasound waves create a vibration effect and that is what is mobilising the congested fluid to move. That’s the whole purpose, to loosen the fluid congestion. It’s a really great tool for this and that’s all that should be expected from it.
But does not do anything to drain the fluid from the breast tissue.
As stated, we need to move the fluid away from its current position and the ultrasound is useless at doing that. That’s where good old gentle massage from hands-on work is the next tool.
Absolutely not. In fact we have developed an entire education platform for women’s breast health, called Your Two Jugs, that is solely focused on how much you can do with your hands to treat your own mastitis. And we do all this without ultrasound!
If I had to choose whether I ONLY had ultrasound or ONLY had massage to treat my massage, I would choose massage every time. The ultrasound is a great adjunct we can offer in clinic but not an essential! That fluid congestion needs to move and ultrasound loosens it but does not move it away from its current position.
If you get ultrasound treatment for mastitis, if that’s all the practitioners offers you an the appointment, find another practitioner that knows how to treat the breast, who has education in the breast tissues and how issues can be resolved.
Our clinic is in Melbourne Australia where we treat women suffering mastitis. You can book in via the button below or call 9859 5059.
However, if you are elsewhere in the world we have our online strategies in video Masterclasses on the website of our sister company Your Two Jugs. Click the logo to go straight to the Your Two Jugs website to check it out.
