Among the many ways to recover from an injury or pain, one of the safest and most effective methods is electrical stimulation or e-stim. This is a physical therapy procedure that involves transmission of electrical pulses to stimulate your injured muscles and reduce your pain.
E-stim may or may not work for everyone; but many have experienced accelerating recovery through this painless procedure. It works by targeting the injured muscles and making them contract repeatedly. Such repeated muscle contractions tend to improve blood flow, thereby repairing your injured muscles.
E-stim can also be used for stroke survivors to train muscles to respond to the natural signals of the body and strengthen them. Apart from Electrical muscle stimulation there is also electric nerve stimulation where in electrical signals are sent to the nerve fibers to reduce pain.
If you are not comfortable visiting a physical therapist who offers e-stim, you can buy a professional tens ems muscle stimulator. Make sure you go for a device that is medically tested and certified and follow the instructions to use it correctly.
How E-stim Works
Small sticky pads or electrodes are first placed on the site which is receiving the treatment. All of these electrodes will be attached to the e-stim device through wires. These wires deliver steady streams of electric pulses to your muscles, signaling them to contract. You may feel a slight tingling sensation while your muscles contract.
If you are trying e-stim for pain relief, these electrical pulses will be aimed at your nervous system, so as to stop the pain signals from reaching your spinal cord and brain. They also stimulate your body to produce more endorphins, which are natural pain-relieving chemicals.
The duration of an e-stim therapy session might be anywhere between five and fifteen minutes, depending upon the nature of your condition. This therapy can be used to treat back pain, joint pain, arthritis, dysphagia, fibromyalgia, nerve inflammation, muscle injuries, spinal cord injury, stroke, urinary incontinence, and even cancer-related pain.
Benefits and Risks of e-stim
E-stim is a painless way to help your injured muscles recover. Fast and effective, it can also be very economical, especially if you get yourself an ems muscle stimulator device. However, it might cause some amount of skin irritation when the electrodes are placed.
E-stim is not recommended for people with pacemaker or any other implantable heart device. It is also not advisable for pregnant women to try e-stim.
E-stim can be used to treat a range of conditions that can cause nerve or musculoskeletal pain. It can be used to reach even deep-seated muscle groups that don’t respond to traditional treatments or normal fitness training.
E-stim can target large as well as small muscle groups. The stimulator device comes with options to choose between beginner as well as advanced groups based on your training intensity. If used correctly, EMS is very effective and has absolutely no side effects. Consult your doctor before trying it out so that you know this is the right treatment for you.