What Conditions Can E-Stim Therapy Treat?
Any physical illness or injury can result in muscle damage or weakness. Physical therapy is often prescribed by doctors for a number of reasons, but if your primary concern is muscle recovery, then E-Stim therapy can help.
E-stim therapy, or Electric Muscle Stimulation (EMS), contracts and releases muscles repeatedly for several minutes without active participation by the patient. It allows those with severe muscle weakness or damage to build up the muscles for a faster recovery.
While EMS can jumpstart your physical therapy and propel your treatment forward, the lack of patient participation dictates that E-stim therapy be used in conjunction with those methods that require active participation from the patient.
If you have muscle weakness or pain, you should not ignore the issue, nor is there a reason to. E-stim physical therapy is very helpful for a variety of health conditions, including those listed below.
Stroke recovery
Having a stroke isn’t as rare as you might think. Over 600,000 strokes occur in the US every year, varying in severity and by demographic. Even a mild stroke can leave you with muscle weakness or sagging that must be corrected with physical therapy.
E-stim therapy is a highly effective treatment that can help your body get back to normal faster than you could get up and moving around on your own.
Sports injuries
Sports injuries are quite common, but the treatment you get can make a difference between getting back out there or being benched for good. E-stim therapy is so effective for muscle recovery that many athletes use EMS devices after a particularly strenuous game or workout. There is no substitute for working the muscles on your own, but electric stimulation should improve muscle recovery of any kind.
Low back pain
Much lower back pain is caused by pulled or stretched muscles rather than spinal alignment. If you have a physically demanding job that requires bending, stooping, and/or lifting, you are at risk for chronic low back pain. There are some important tips for those who work on their feet, such as having the right shoes and lifting properly.
But back injuries can happen in other ways as well, and it is important to get the right treatment. Any painful injury prompts the muscles to remain tense, and E-stim helps those muscles relax and begin to recover. Those with chronic spinal issues may also benefit from EMS, because it allows the muscles to be built up faster to hold the spine in place as it should. A masseuse can alleviate some of the pain, but you need to repair the muscles to truly be pain free.
Post-surgical recovery
You would expect a patient with a joint replacement or other major musculoskeletal injury to need physical therapy, but in truth some physical therapy may also be needed for procedures such as heart surgery. The longer you are down from your injury or illness, the weaker the muscles become. E-stim helps those muscles recover to help you improve mobility and balance.