Recent medical research has looked into the mechanisms of disturbance of bio-electricity patterns within the human body and how it may relate to disease states.
As a result, electrotherapy has gained increasing favor as a physical therapy modality for various medical conditions. Some of the electrotherapeutic devices currently in use include:
- TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) – which delivers an electric current in milliamps with a low frequency of 2-150Hz, stimulating the larger nerve fibers that produce a shut-down of the flow of pain signals. (Gate Control Theory of Pain).
- Electronic Muscle Stimulator (EMS) – the low voltage electrical currents, are adjusted to produce stimulation and contraction of a muscle, and increasing the local blood supply. It helps relax muscle spasm, producing pain relief and helps muscle tissue avoid disuse atrophy.
- Interferential Stimulator (IF) – produces a field of interference between two electrical currents of medium frequencies (one current at 4000Hz and another at varying frequencies reaching 400Hz). It tends to penetrate deeper into treated body tissue than TENS does.
- High Voltage Pulsed Galvanic Stimulator (HVPGS) – Constant direct current (DC) applied with positive electrode pad acting as an ice pack (tending to reduce swelling, edema and pain), and negative electrode pad acting as hot pack (promoting increased circulation to speed up local healing)
- Microcurrent – a physical therapy modality providing electric current in millionths of an ampere, producing bio-stimulation.
Since Microcurrent Therapy utilizes a small current – approximately 100 times lower than that used in TENS, there is rarely any patient discomfort. In fact, the currents are often barely noticeable by the patient when being applied for treatment. It is comparable with the low bio-electric currents produced in a human body during the cell’s healing process. In contrast to other electrotherapy modalities, Microcurrent utilizes bio-stimulation (neutralizing the oscillating potential of injured cells, increasing local synthesis of protein and ATP, enhancing the cellular permeability for the repair of injured cells) to produce pain relief.
Some of the possible applications of Microcurrent Therapy include –
- Wound healing
- Pain relief in chronic pain conditions
- Fibromyalgia and myofascial pains
- Traumatic sports injuries
- Enhancing fracture union
If you are suffering from any of the above medical conditions, or other difficult aches and pains, it would be a probably be good idea to discuss Microcurrent Therapy with your doctor, and find out whether it would be a suitable treatment option.
Dr Terence Tan, The Pain Relief Clinic
