Electrical Muscle Stimulation

If you don't know what electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) is then good for you. That means you haven't had a lot of musculoskeletal injuries that required professional treatment. Physical therapists, chiropractors, trainers, and physical medicine docs have been successfully using EMS on their patients for quite a long time now. The practice of using electrical charges allegedly dates back to ancient Egypt. A full history is probably not necessary here but what I want to stress is that EMS has been around for a very long time. Shocking right?

E-Stim

Modern EMS units (E-stim for short) are a far cry from the primitive methods used thousands of years ago. I have been working with EMS as a chiropractor for about a decade now and its been an invaluable tool. Furthermore, the technology continues to advance although we have certainly plateaued after modern electronics and digital units became widespread. Nowadays, a pocket sized TENS unit (a slightly different current) is far superior to the clunky units we were using 50 years ago.

How does it work?

The technical answer is rather complicated and requires a thorough knowledge of physics and cellular biology. However, I'm going to simplify this in a way that most people can understand. The unit creates a specific type of electrical current which is run between two (or four) electrodes that are adhered to the skin. The objective is to run the current through the structures that you would like to affect. A bit of clinical knowledge helps here but for most folks just placing the pads around the painful area will suffice. The current causes several favorable things to happen within the affected tissues. Some of the more well known and studied outcomes are as follows:

muscle spasm reduction
pain relief
it reduces swelling and inflammation
it promotes cellular healing

General guidelines on EMS

I let patients chose their therapies once they have a good feel for what is good for what. Its a good and bad policy. I think a lot of folks are missing out on a really good therapy but we often have to balance expense with efficacy. This causes people to opt out of services they see as extra or non-essential. I am a chiropractor and I have accepted that when a person shows up to the office they are probably looking for adjustments which is fine but I'm afraid they are missing out on the positive synergy that combining therapies into an overall treatment plan can produce.

Ok... ok... ok, digress, this is what I tell my patients about EMS and how to use it. When your pain levels are high, use EMS for pain control. When your pain levels are low we should be more focused on active therapies and making structural changes. People also ask if they should do EMS before or after receiving other treatments. While I have come across hundreds of patients that swear by EMS before an adjustment, there is no evidence that it is more effective one way or another. It probably boils down to how EMS is typically used in a clinical setting and what they are used to.

In conclusion, EMS is a great tool and resource at my patient's disposal. The effects of EMS are undeniable and most musculoskeletal problems improve with some EMS alone. When we add chiropractic care like adjustments and/or soft tissue to the mix we have a winning formula for pain relief and healing.

See ya next time,

~Dr Malone