Has your healthcare provider recommended electrical muscle stimulation therapy? Electrical stimulation therapy, also known as e-stim, can have various applications. Bronston chiropractors may use e-stim for conditions including pain, injury, stroke, fibromyalgia, arthritis, or even weak muscles. Could electrical stimulation therapy be the right treatment for you?
How Electrical Stimulation Works
In a broad sense, electrical stimulation might seem similar to spinal manipulation. In both cases, the practitioner is delivering a high amount of energy to an isolated part of the body to target particular muscles. Like manual manipulation, electrical treatment can target a joint and help reduce pain in the body. How does it work? Through small electrode pads placed on your skin, the e-stim unit sends mild electrical pulses through your skin in a steady stream. These pulses are much like the signals that typically originate in neurons in your body. The doctor can use these mild electrical currents to target your muscles or nerves.
Bronston Clinics use interferential current therapy (IFC), the most common type of electrical muscle stimulation used to treat chronic pain resulting from surgery, injury, or trauma. Note that IFC is different than a TENS unit, which delivers low-frequency current across the surface of the skin. IFC delivers a higher frequency current that penetrates deeper into the tissue and is more comfortable for patients.
E-Stim Benefits
Electrical stimulation use can be versatile during therapy, providing relief using various types of currents and methods to help relieve pain and speed recovery. E-stim can also encourage muscles to heal, restore growth, and reduce swelling. If you’ve never received this treatment before, don’t let the idea of electricity being applied to your body seem frightening. It’s actually a painless way to communicate with your muscles, potentially causing them to contract and easing blood flow into the affected areas. Click to learn more.
Bronston Chiropractic Clinics in Onalaska and La Crosse offer electrical muscle stimulation or e-stim as one of many treatments, listed here. Our doctors will listen to your needs and form a care plan that is right for you. Please call us at 608.781.2225 to make an appointment. Start your path to pain relief today.
