SoftWave vs Radial Shockwave Therapy

If you are comparing shockwave providers, the most meaningful technical difference between them is usually radial versus true shock wave. Here is the distinction without the marketing.

How the Wave Is Generated

Radial devices are pneumatic. A projectile strikes an applicator head, and the resulting pressure wave enters the body at the skin surface and radiates outward, dispersing as it goes.

SoftWave generates a true acoustic shock wave electrohydraulically and delivers it across a broad treatment zone rather than concentrating it at a single point.

Treatment Area and Depth

• Radial: strongest at the surface, weaker with depth
• Focused: strongest at one targeted depth and point
• Broad-focused (SoftWave): true shock wave energy spread across a wider area

Patient Experience

Radial treatment is often described as a rapid, percussive hammering that can be uncomfortable over sensitive spots. Broad-focused treatment is usually described as a firm tapping. Sessions with SoftWave are typically about ten minutes and do not require numbing.

Typical Clinical Use

Radial systems are common in sports medicine and physical therapy settings, often for superficial trigger points and muscular tissue. Broad-focused systems tend to be used where the provider wants true shock wave energy over a larger region of tissue.

Which Is Better?

Neither is universally better, and any clinic that says otherwise is selling. The right question is which technology suits your specific tissue and problem — which is why the evaluation matters more than the equipment brochure.

Our Dunwoody office uses SoftWave. If you want to know whether it is appropriate for your case, call (770) 452-0022.