How does electrical muscle stimulation work? What is it used for?

Yes, electrostimulation works and is a method recognized by the medical world.
Electrostimulation is now an integral part of physiotherapy and pain management protocols. It has been a technique used by physical therapists for many years.


Electrostimulation is not a miraculous technique, it respects how your body works.

The principle of electrostimulation is very simple and precisely reproduces the processes that occur when our brain orders muscles to contract. When we decide to contract a muscle, our brain sends a signal in the form of an electric current that travels at high speed along the nerve fibers up to the muscle which reacts by contracting.
In the case of electrostimulation, excitation occurs directly on the motor nerve using electrical pulses perfectly controlled to guarantee effectiveness, safety and comfort in use. In fact, muscles cannot tell the difference between a voluntary contraction (triggered by the brain) and an electrically induced contraction: the work done is exactly the same. It's natural!

Who can use electrotherapy?

For many years, electrostimulation was used solely by healthcare professionals such as physical therapists. Over time, athletes who have discovered the benefits of electrostimulation in healing their injuries have picked up on this technique to help improve their muscular performance. Electrostimulation has now become a technique that is accessible to everyone.


Athletes

To optimize their muscular qualities: what works on wasted or weakened muscles also works on healthy muscles. With electrostimulation, the muscles selected can be given a very intense workout. This workout can be customized to develop specific qualities depending on the program selected: endurance, strength or resistance, for example:

• To speed up recovery after an intense workout and limit aches and pains.
• To prevent injuries, for example twisted ankles, by reinforcing certain muscles (in this case the peroneal muscles).
• To relieve pain, for example tendon problems or muscle contraction problems.

Those who want to stay in good shape:


A sedentary lifestyle has harmful effects on the muscular system. Muscles lose power, become tired more easily and are no longer able to perform correctly their role of maintaining the skeleton and the different organs. Other than the detrimental consequences on the shape of the body, this muscular insufficiency can be the cause of pain, for example lumbar pains whose frequency is increased in people without efficient abdominal muscles.
Electrostimulation can restore or maintain a toned muscular system capable of ensuring effective maintenance of the body and preventing numerous pains.


Physical therapists talk about electrotherapy.

They use it particularly for rehabilitation: for example after being unable to move for a while due to an injury, muscles lose certain qualities that electrostimulation will help find again. Physical therapists therefore use electrostimulation to strengthen certain muscles, including:

• Treating different forms of incontinence and preventing it after labour.
• Relieving chronic or acute pains, for example cervical pains, lumbago or lumbosciatica.

• Improving the disorders of people suffering from circulatory problems.This can range from the feeling of heavy legs to arterial insufficiency which often reduces the walking range of these people due to pain.

People suffering from pain:


Pain is a sign that can be caused by many things. Relieving pain is now a priority for which electrostimulation is ideal. Bad backs, joint pains and neuralgia are common indications of electrostimulation for pain relief which can be done at home or under the supervision of a healthcare professional.

Electrostimulation has huge benefits, including:

• Making the muscles work without putting too much strain on joints, as is the case with weights used with traditional muscle building equipment.
• Being able to target precisely a muscular group to work on; This is very useful for physical therapists who can thus maintain the qualities of the muscles which are impossible to use when a person is immobilized. It is also very useful for athletes who want to have a workout on the muscles more specifically involved in their discipline.
• Being able to combine muscular stimulation with pain relief treatment to make some patients recover quicker.
• Being able to relieve pain by avoiding or limiting the use of drugs that cause unwanted side effects.

Is electrical muscle stimulation painful?

Most often during stimulation you will feel a simple tingling sensation caused by the stimulation current, which is inevitable. However, the high quality of the Compex currents guarantees you get the most comfortable stimulation current possible.


Let's consider two types of programs which do not produce the same sensations:

Pain relief and wellness: The electric sensation is light, hardly perceptible for some people. It is restricted to tingling or tickling, so a completely comfortable sensation.
Muscle building: For the muscle building programs, the "electric" sensation may be more pronounced, however:
Most often, it is the power of the contractions which limits the progression, much more than the "electric" sensation.
Then, all users quickly get used to the sensation felt, which makes progression quite easy.

Why is using the maximum intensity tolerable encouraged for muscle reinforcement type programs?

When aiming to develop muscular qualities, the intensity of stimulation is crucial.

The higher this intensity of stimulation, the higher the percentage of muscle fibers that are working. You must always therefore work with the maximum intensity you are able to tolerate.

To make progress, you will have to increase the intensities used throughout each session and also from one session to the next. This is why when an electrostimulation session is done seriously, it is not always pleasant and it is not possible to perform another activity at the same time.