Why We Don't Do EMTT Therapy at Our Jacksonville Clinic

EMTT stands for extracorporeal magnetotransduction therapy. It is made by a single manufacturer, and the device is a handpiece containing a coil. A strong electrical current pulses through that coil and produces a rapidly changing magnetic field, which passes through the skin and induces a small electrical current in the tissue underneath. There is no impact and no heat, and most people feel very little during a session.

According to the manufacturer, the field oscillates far faster and reaches a much higher strength than the pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) mats sold for home use, and that is how it sets EMTT apart from older magnetic therapy. The proposed idea is that the induced current nudges cell activity, calms local inflammation and supports repair. It is a reasonable idea. The question is how well it has been tested.

We are not saying EMTT does nothing, and we are not calling it unsafe. The published safety record so far is good. Our objection is that the evidence is young, and when you are paying for a series of sessions you deserve a treatment with a longer track record behind it.

• The research base is still small. The largest trial we could find is a 2026 double blind study of 126 patients with knee arthritis, rotator cuff problems or lumbar arthritis, comparing eight weekly EMTT sessions against a sham device. The EMTT group reported less pain and better function at 6 and 12 weeks. That is an encouraging result, and it is also one trial.
• The best study has limits its own authors point out. The manufacturer supported the trial and supplied the devices, several authors had been paid by device makers, follow up stopped at 12 weeks, and almost half of the sham group believed they were getting the real treatment. None of that makes the result wrong. It does mean the finding needs repeating by independent groups before we would build patient care around it.
• Much of the rest is case reports and combined treatments. A 2026 scoping review on EMTT for bone healing found nine studies, most of them case reports plus a single pilot trial. Reviews of the wider research note that EMTT is often studied as an add on alongside other treatments, which makes it hard to tell how much EMTT itself contributed.
• It is passive. Lying still while a coil runs over a sore joint does not change how that joint is loaded tomorrow, which is usually what decides whether the pain comes back.

For the stubborn tendon, heel, knee, hip and shoulder problems EMTT is marketed for, we use a StemWave, and it is focused electrohydraulic, the most specific and deepest penetrating type of acoustic pulse device available. Instead of inducing a current, it delivers a mechanical pulse that concentrates its energy at a set depth below the skin. Tissue reads that mechanical force and responds to it, the same reason loaded bone gets denser and a tendon rebuilds around demand, and it drives new small blood vessels into an area whose poor blood supply is a large part of why it stalled.

The difference that matters for you is the evidence. Acoustic pulse treatment for chronic tendon and fascia problems has more than two decades of randomised trials and meta analyses behind it, with the strongest support in chronic heel pain and calcific shoulder tendinitis, and the first device was approved by the FDA for chronic heel pain back in 2000. Our focused shockwave page explains the machine, the dosing and which problems it suits.

“Dr. Hall used the stem wave on my knee that had chronic pain and inflammation for five years. The pain is completely gone now and I could not be more grateful.”

JL Julie Layher
Jacksonville

How our patients see results

We never start with the machine. The first visit is a full assessment to confirm the problem really is a tendon or fascia issue and to find any joint or movement problem feeding it. If StemWave is the right call, most people do a series of roughly 3 to 6 sessions about a week apart, and Dr. Muren reassesses after the third. If the tissue is not responding by then, we revisit the diagnosis rather than keep selling sessions.

It also rarely works alone. The plan around it does the work a passive device cannot: chiropractic adjustments for the joint that stopped moving, dry needling for the muscle guarding it, and a loading programme so the tissue becomes capable again rather than merely comfortable. Knee cases are a good example, and our knee pain care shows how the pieces fit together.

“I tore my meniscus about 6 years ago and never did anything about it. … After six sessions I can sprint again.”

JE James Elliott
Jacksonville

That is a fair choice, and a few clinics offer it. Ask them the questions that separate a considered treatment from a package: what the diagnosis is before any device is used, how many sessions they expect and what happens if nothing has changed by then, whether EMTT is being combined with other treatments in the same visit, and what you should be doing at home alongside it. Be wary of any plan where the home answer is nothing. Also look at cold laser therapy, another passive option we decided against, for the same reasons.

If nerve symptoms are the reason you were looking, such as burning or numb feet, that is a different problem from a sore tendon, and our neuropathy page covers how we approach it.

Full Swing Healthcare sits at 13770 Beach Blvd, which keeps tendon, joint and deep tissue care close for Southside and Baymeadows commuters, San Marco and Deerwood desks, and the beaches from Jacksonville Beach through Neptune Beach, Atlantic Beach and Ponte Vedra Beach. Dr. Cody Muren, DC, and Dr. Eric Hall, DC, run every plan, and we accept Florida Blue, United Healthcare, Humana, Cigna, Florida Medicaid, and VA benefits. Even if you end up somewhere else, knowing whether your pain is a tendon, a joint or a nerve changes which treatment is worth paying for.