ELECTROSTIMULATION
Electrostimulation is an excellent integrative treatment that is meant to be as an enhancement for those who are already exercising or, on the other hand, can be taken advantage of for those who have muscle pain to benefit greatly.
Depending on the goals it will serve:
• to athletes, to supplement normal training and increase performance
• to those who want to intervene on certain imperfections
• to those who suffer from certain pathologies
• to those who have suffered an injury or in rehabilitation.
Electrostimulation is a technique that, through the use of electrical impulses that act either on the motor points of the muscles (motor neurons) or on the nerve endings (TENS impulses), causes a muscle contraction quite similar to voluntary contraction.
There are two different modes of use:
- muscle stimulation (ideal for strength development and aesthetic treatments)
- stimulation at the nerve terminals (ideal for pain treatments)
TYPES OF MUSCLE
Muscle can be divided into three different types: striated (or voluntary) muscle, cardiac muscle, and smooth (or involuntary) muscle.
Voluntary (striated) muscle includes skeletal muscles and the musculature of organs such as the eyeball and tongue.
It enables movement and maintenance of posture and helps determine the shape and figure of the body.
It responds with exceptional speed to nerve impulses, contracting rapidly and intensely.
Voluntary muscle cannot remain contracted with high intensity for a long time because it is easily fatigued.
As a rule, striated muscles are connected to the skeleton by tendons.
Involuntary (smooth) muscle lines the inner walls of our organs; we find it in the wall of blood vessels, in the wall of hollow organs (stomach, intestines,...), inside the eyeball and in the hair erector muscles.
Its main function is to push materials in and out of the body.
Smooth muscles do not attach to skeletal structures; they have very slow, but prolonged and more efficient contractions (they require less ATP which is our body's energy molecule) and are not subject to fatigue.
Most muscles in the human body belong to the striated or voluntary muscle category, with about 200 muscles on each side of the body (about 400 in total).
Skeletal muscles are the target of EMS (Electrical Muscle Stimulation).
MECHANISM OF MUSCLE CONTRACTION
Skeletal muscle exerts its functions through the mechanism of contraction.
When muscle contraction occurs, movement of the joints and, consequently, movement of the skeleton is produced.
Muscle contracts in the following way: when a person decides to make a movement, his or her brain automatically processes the necessary information and generates a signal that, through the nervous system, transmits an electrical impulse to the muscle that is to contract.
After the impulse is received, the anatomical structures of the muscle contract, determining the desired movement.
The energy required for the contraction is provided by the supply of sugars and fats in the human body.
In other words, electrical stimulation is not a direct energy resource but functions as a tool that triggers muscle contraction.
The same kind of mechanism is triggered when muscle contraction is produced by the electrostimulator.
In other words, EMS (electrostimulation produced by the stimulator) performs the same function as a natural impulse transmitted by the motor nervous system.
Normally, the muscle relaxes and returns to its original state at the end of the contraction.
ISOTONIC AND ISOMETRIC CONTRACTION
Isotonic contraction occurs when the muscles involved produce a state of tension that generates joint head displacement and thus movement.
When, on the other hand, the muscles produce tension and the joint heads of a body segment are locked (without producing movement), the relative contraction is called isometric.
In the case of electrostimulation, isometric contraction is generally preferred because it allows even maximal contraction without generating abrupt, uncontrolled movements of the joint heads.
THE MENS MICROCURRENTS
The use of microcurrent in electrostimulation is increasingly growing.
In the U.S. and other countries such as Japan, Canada, etc., MCR or MENS has already been one of the most widely used currents in physiotherapy for curative purposes for many years, (differing from Tens, which as is well known, have only indications against pain).
Many studies and research on MENS have shown important results, and various protocols and parameters have been defined and incorporated into our stimulators.
For particular diseases and situations, however, it is always recommended to refer to your physician.
Unlike conventional electrostimulation therapies, which use currents with intensities on the order of milliamps (mA), microcurrent uses a low-intensity current (microamps μA).
This mild current is below the threshold of human perception and therefore is not felt by the patient.
CeasePain™ therapy offers the patient significant advantages:
• safety
• comfort
• diminution of acute and chronic pain
• fast tissue recovery and rapid healing of wounds, scars and bone fractures
• production of collagen fibers, which promote skin elasticity
• total absence of side effects and complications.
The phases and duration of CeasePain™ therapy
CeasePain™ therapy generally comprises two phases.
Phase 1 primarily aims to decrease pain while phase 2 aims to resolve the injury and repair the damaged tissue.
While phase 1 provides rapid pain relief, phase 2 promotes ATP production and protein synthesis accelerating tissue recovery and thus basic healing.
These two phases are performed in succession.
Treatment duration ranges between 15 and 30 minutes in phase 1 and between 5 and 10 minutes in phase 2 (5 minutes by default).
The number of sessions varies according to the problem to be treated.
Generally, one treatment per day or every other day is sufficient.
For satisfactory results, the period of therapy may vary from 10 to 45 days.
After satisfactory results are achieved, 5 to 10 follow-up sessions are recommended.
