Physiotherapy for Mastitis

Mastitis is a painful condition?often?affecting women just after they have given birth. During the breastfeeding period sometimes the ducts carrying the milk can become blocked. Milk that is caught behind this blockage is then forced into surrounding breast tissue?leading to inflammation?which can cause any number of the following?clinical?signs and symptoms:

• Tenderness
• Pain
• Redness
• Local hyperthermia (increased temperature)
• Hardening/lumpiness
• Decreased milk flow on the affected?side

These may also be accompanied?by:

• Fever
• Shivering and?chills
• General?malaise
• Fatigue

It is often believed that mastitis is an infection; however, this is a popular misconception.?

Rather, mastitis is an inflammatory process that?could be either a non-infectious or an?infectious process.?Hence, antibiotics are often prescribed unnecessarily. If there is no infection present antibiotics simply will not?help.

Treatment

By using soundwaves from a specialised therapeutic ultrasound machine, the ducts can be unblocked, often in a short amount of time without drugs. Usually, improvements in the abovementioned?symptoms are felt after the first session (in some cases only one session is needed to resolve all symptoms) with most resolving after 2-3?sessions.