Mamas often seek our services for ultrasound treatment for mastitis. We find it a really useful tool that often reduces pain, inflammation and redness. But in isolation it has limitations which is why we have developed many hands-on techniques to assist what the ultrasound does in the breast, to clear away the lumps and congestion. So if you hear that mastitis ultrasound treatment is all you need then this can be a quite misleading.
For many years we have used ultrasound in our Melbourne Mastitis Clinic for Mastitis, blocked ducts & engorgement and although “just get ultrasound” can be talked about like a magic solution, unfortunately it just doesn’t address other factors that hands-on therapy does (in addition to the ultrasound treatment). So although ultrasound is not a magical wand that will instantly get rid of mastitis, it definitely has its uses.
It’s been a treatment technique we’ve found useful for thousands of Melbourne mums.
What people are recommending is something called therapeutic ultrasound. This is different to diagnostic ultrasound that you would have experienced when you had baby scans that show you a picture.
Therapeutic ultrasound doesn’t produce pictures.
It is a sound wave that when it enters the body tissues it causes the fluid in the tissues to be pushed together tightly, and then drawn apart over and over again in cycles. It’s a push-pull kind of technique but at a micro-level.
By doing this it is able to mobilise fluids in the tissue, which could be
And it can heat the tissue under the wand which may improve blood flow.
It’s a really helpful tool but it has definite limitations.
It just jiggles the fluid in the area that the ultrasound wand is focused over. It doesn’t move the fluid along the pathway to clear it out congestion that you might feel as a lump or blockage, or solid area of breast tissue.
It just isn’t capable of this.
So the fluid will have jiggled and then will stop and rest in much the same position it began. It can definitely feel a bit better but in terms of addressing the actual problem it’s NOT ENOUGH!
You want to find someone who also does breast massage AND fluid drainage techniques.
But here’s the thing, most practitioners don’t realise there are different techniques that work best for different problems.
Many will just tell you to massage towards the nipple (if they do any hands-on at all). This is helpful in ONLY some cases and your case needs to be determined independently, rather than a recipe type approach.
If you google ‘mastitis ultrasound’ there will be plenty of practitioners that pop up ready to give you an appointment.
BUT take a close look and see how many say they will provide hands-on therapy??
There will be the odd one here and there but really, the majority will likely just rub an ultrasound wand over your breast, with very little after-care or education to help you heal.
They are relying on the ultrasound tool, rather than a solid educated foundation of the breast. If they had the knowledge, they would be using massage and mobilising breast therapy – it’s too useful to not use it!
No practitioner just providing ultrasound should be treating breasts. This practice shows a considerable lack of knowledge about the breast structure & function. It’s just a job on the side for them.
Often you’ll be told “just use heat”, “keep draining the breast”, which is useful advice but there are more pressing issues to address right now when you have a problem.
Anyone who has comprehensive breast knowledge will not only have the confidence to treat the breast with their hands, but KNOWS that this is an essential part of genuine breast therapy.
You want someone who has dedicated knowledge and experienced hands.
That’s when you get genuine mastitis therapy & the right education on how to help yourself for the problem.
PLUS you’ll want to know what prevention massage and body work you can easily do yourself at home focused at never having this problem again.
I would be asking questions of their treatment process and techniques.
Therapeutic ultrasound is very basic for professionals to learn. It’s really not rocket-science. And as an isolated treatment for breast it has its limitations.
You’d be better off learning how to therapeutically massage & mobilse your breast through our online course Boobology (on our breast education platform called Your Two Jugs), than just having ultrasound treatment.
Our experience is that many practitioners just treat the breast with ultrasound and are simply not educated in what to do with their hands and so provide a treatment that in our opinion, is lacking in the detail needed for full recovery.
This is where you actually promote healing of your breast tissue itself.
By massaging and mobilising breast tissue with bodywork techniques, you commit to helping your body heal in the way it’s designed to. But each issue with breast tissue is different and we need to work to your body’s advantage with healing.
It is NOT a one-size-fits-all treatment. And shouldn’t be!
Mastitis therapy, blocked duct therapy and engorgement therapy respond best to different approaches!
Which is why you want to get professional help from people that understand the WHOLE picture and can provide you with a plan to improve and prevent recurring dramas.
Yes!
It’s a great tool BUT not in isolation.
We find it a wonderful tissue primer for our hands-on breast therapy. It will jiggle the fluids, in a way loosening the congestion & increase blood flow. We then capitalise on that response to work away through the natural drainage pathways of the breast to encourage healing.
So much that we also produced a Practitioner Course (The Boob Hero Course) via our online platform called Your Two Jugs, to train practitioners in breast therapy.
And yes it includes ultrasound tutorials (because ultrasound has a use here!) but the majority is how to work on the breast with hands-on bodywork therapy.
We are leading the way for better healthcare for breastfeeding women.
It’s NO job on the side for us at the Melbourne Mastitis Clinic.
Our clinic is in Melbourne Australia where we treat women experiencing 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.
