GAINSWave For ED: Reviews, Cost & More

If erectile dysfunction (ED) is affecting you, you’re part of a big group. Around 30 million men in the United States deal with ED and are always looking for effective treatments. While medications like Viagra® and Cialis® are effective for some, others have to look elsewhere for treatments, like the shockwave therapy device known as GAINSWave®.

If you’ve never heard of this treatment before — or even if you have — you might have some questions. Does GAINSWave work? Is the GAINSWave machine something that can treat ED better than medication can? And what is a GAINSWave machine anyway?

GAINSWave therapy may be effective, but there’s not a lot of research to back it up. Right now, it’s also not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat ED. In other words, it’s complicated.

Below, we’ve explained GAINSWave and how it works and answered further questions about its cost, effectiveness, and potential risks. Here’s what you need to know.

GAINSWave is a low-intensity shock wave therapy device designed to help manage erectile dysfunction.

While urologists often use high-frequency waves to break up harder materials like kidney stones, these low-intensity shock waves (also referred to as low-intensity, extracorporeal shock wave therapy) are a noninvasive treatment for erectile dysfunction.

Most ED treatments just help you manage symptoms and allow you to get erections only at the time you use the treatment. Shock therapy, on the other hand, purports to restore erectile function so that you can achieve erections without assistance from treatments like ED pills.

Brands like PhoenixPro® and GAINSWave use shockwave therapy to restore erectile function. Basically, this means they focus sound waves on the penis to increase blood supply to the area and encourage improvement in its function.

According to GAINSWave, this procedure breaks up micro-plaque buildup in blood vessels and encourages the formation of new blood cells in the penis. It might even improve nerve health and sensitivity.

At least, that’s what it’s supposed to do.

While the FDA has approved treatments like GAINSWave for conditions like plantar fasciitis — inflammation in the tissue between the heel and toes — shockwave therapy is not yet FDA-approved in the urology and erectile health space.

Shockwave therapy is recognized as a viable treatment method for ED in men who have a poor response to conventional treatments. Still, there’s currently only modest data from clinical trials to show that GAINSWave treatment can work.

A study of 76 men with vascular ED found that the 40  participants who had once-a-week shockwave treatment for four weeks showed modest improvement in erectile function compared with 36 others given a placebo treatment.

Another study — which was very small, with just 20 patients — put participants through six 20-minute treatment sessions. After those six sessions, about 80 percent of them saw improvements in their sexual performance.

A final study of 31 participants had them use a shockwave procedure for four weeks. In a three-month follow-up, all experienced significant improvements in erectile function.

However, all authors of these studies emphasized that more research is necessary to determine if shockwave therapy can help patients.

Each GAINSWave session can typically cost around $500, depending on your region, but it’s important to know that you won’t just go once. So the total cost may be much, much higher.

The specific amount of treatment someone will need to see results varies from person to person, but we can say that low-intensity extracorporeal shock wave therapy requires at least several sessions.

GAINSWave may require six to 12 sessions — usually 20 to 30 minutes each — for satisfactory results. But remember that there’s a lot of uncertainty about success rates for this procedure, so you could be looking at many follow-up appointments.

It’s also not a procedure that most (or any) insurers will cover, especially since it’s not FDA-approved as a treatment for ED, which means you’ll likely be covering the cost yourself.

Shock therapy is relatively safe. Still, while the chance that the treatment won’t work is the biggest risk, there are some potential adverse effects you should know about.

Some of the potential side effects may include:

• Infection of the penile skin

• Painful erections

• Difficulty having sex, usually following pain or an infection

• Penile skin bruising

• Pooling of blood under the skin

Urologists and other healthcare professionals should tell you about these risks alongside whatever testimonials they share. But to avoid serious risks to your health, tell your provider about any heart or men’s health conditions you have and any medications you’re taking.

And be ready for their medical advice to point you toward other ways to deal with sexual health issues.

If you aren’t sure that the GAINSWave procedure is for you, we recommend trying one of these trusted, science-backed alternative methods for managing your ED.

• The most commonly used medications for ED are phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PDE5), which promote healthy blood flow to your penis. You’ve probably heard of medications like Viagra (sildenafil),Cialis (tadalafil), and Stendra® (avanafil). We offer several of these, as well as our discreet hard mints chewable ED meds.

• Therapy can treat psychological ED and sexual performance anxiety in men dealing with anxiety, depression, or other mental health causes of ED.

• Improvements to your sleep, diet, exercise, and other habits, as well as reductions in your weight and stress, can help you better maintain an erection.

These are just some ways a healthcare provider can help you manage your ED without sonic waves — and your health insurance likely covers them.

For the treatment of erectile dysfunction and restored sexual function, shockwave therapy for ED might be the future. For now, however, it’s not the best or most proven option.

If you’re trying to reignite spontaneous erections, bring back a high sex drive, or create a generally satisfying sex life, you need to go with a treatment plan that includes FDA-approved and science-backed methods. When you’re exploring your options, here’s what to keep in mind:

• Shockwave therapy may be the ideal treatment for some kinds of ED. However, there are many different types and causes of ED, and many can’t be treated with GAINSWave or other shockwave therapy.

• Organic causes of ED include damage to blood vessels, nervous system injuries or disorders, the side effects of medications, diabetes, and Peyronie’s disease.

• Low-intensity extracorporeal therapy is typically reserved for people who do not experience satisfactory results after using PDE5 inhibitors such as Viagra and Cialis.

So, if you’re trying to plot a course back to great sex, we can help.

Learn more about the different ED medications and management options for erectile dysfunction in our guide to the most common erectile dysfunction treatments and drugs. And if you’re ready to try a proven treatment, reach out today.