The anatomy of an erection

To begin with there are three types: 

• Psychogenic: thoughts and nerve signals contribute to your erection
• Reflexogenic: physical stimulation in which the signals don’t even reach the brain. 
• Nocturnal: erections that occur without your knowing in the dead of night. 

However, they all essentially rely on the same mechanism of blood vessels in the penis. In this most basic of biological processes, arteries relax allowing blood to flow (at ~30 cm/second) into the shaft while the veins close up; about 130 ml of blood is required to maintain an erection. Pressure within the corpora cavernosa prevents the blood from flowing back out and thus you have an erection. Erectile dysfunction simply refers to some problem along the way that prevents you from achieving or maintaining an erection. 

How does extracorporeal shockwave therapy help?

Because blood flow is so critical to an erection, inadequate blood flows necessarily leads to less than desirable erections. While traditional medications for ED are successful on an as-needed basis, extracorporeal shockwave therapy, also known as acoustic compression aims to improve the function of the entire blood-moving mechanism, including encouraging neurovascularization, or the formation of new blood vessels. 

Extracorporeal shockwave therapy uses the science of erections to combat ED

If you are struggling with ED, and are looking for a long lasting form of treatment that allows you to achieve and maintain erections without relying on pharmaceutical medication, give our office a call to start the conversation today.