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If you’re experiencing pain during your recovery from injury or a muscle condition, you may be interested to learn about electrical muscle stimulation (EMS).
Electric muscle stimulator machines are designed to help strengthen and rehabilitate your muscles using tiny electrical impulses to produce a muscle contraction that is thought to help your muscles back to recovery.
In this article we’ll look at three of the best EMS machines on the market, so you can decide which is best for you.
What is electronic muscle stimulation?
In the simplest of terms, electronic muscle stimulation works by using electrical pulses that simulate signals coming from the cells in your nervous system known as neurons.
It works by sending mild electrical currents to your muscles or nerves.
Electrical muscle stimulators target muscles to make the contract, much like flexing your bicep or other forms of muscle contractions.
This then causes blood to flow, helping your injured muscles to repair.
The repeated contractions, followed by the relation period improves the strength of your muscles.
It is also thought that EMS machines can also “train” your muscles to respond to the natural contraction signals that your body sends.
Six benefits of electrical stimulation
If you are recommended to have EMS by your doctor or physiotherapist, there are six medical benefits that are thought to help you on your road to recovery, these include:1
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Reduced nerve pain
While nerve pain may vary, the idea of using a TENS machine to target and reduce nerve pain works in the same way.
Electrical stimulation works by interfering with or “confusing” the pain signals that your body transmits.
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Promote healing of muscular injuries
Some electrotherapies, particularly those that include shockwave therapy treatment, have been proven to effectively treat a variety of conditions.
Not only will this help reduce pain, but it can also help increase blood flow to injured areas, which can help stimulate the healing process.
This is thought to be most effective for sports injuries such as sprains and strains.
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Drug-free pain control
Using an electrical stimulation machine provides a safe, non-addictive way to manage muscular pain.
Whether you suffer from neck or back pain, your daily life can be impacted. While medication, such as painkillers can offer relief, electrotherapy can offer a great alternative.
In severe medical cases, using EMS or TENS machines may, in some circumstances, prevent the need for surgery.
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May prevent muscle waste
When you aren’t able to use your muscles due to injury, illness or nerve damage it can result in muscle atrophy – this is when a muscle wastes away.
This can impact your body with pain and stiffness of muscles, by restricting movement and in severe circumstances, your quality of life.
Electrical muscle stimulation may help prevent this by helping your muscles contract.
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May help repair wounds
Healthy circulation is a very important part of the healing process. It also helps remove toxins from the body to keep you healthy.
Studies have shown that electronic muscle stimulation can improve blood flow in the body, which can help your recovery.
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Very few side effects
The most common side effect with electrotherapy treatments is from the electrode pads being secured to the skin.
This generally illustrates how few side effects there are from EMS machines.
Three of the best electric muscle stimulators
Picking out the best muscle stimulators can be a difficult process.
The market is flooded with different designs and features that may or may not be useful.
We’ve narrowed it down to three different machines that should give you an insight on what you should be looking out for
Beurer Digital TENS/EMS Pain Relief
Beurer Digital TENS/EMS Pain Relief
If you’re looking for an all-in-one TENS and EMS machine, then this Beurer Digital might be the answer to your prayers.
It has 64 pre-set programs for pain relief, muscle strengthening and massage, and six customisable programs available for more individual programming.
It uses four electrodes by sending electrical nerve stimulation signals to the affected areas with four electrodes, designed to provide you with a relaxing impulse massage.
Beurer TENS & Warmth Menstrual Pain Relief, EM50
Beurer TENS & Warmth Menstrual Pain Relief, EM50
If you experience menstrual cramps and are looking for a way to control them, then this Beurer TENS & warmth menstrual pain relief machine
This innovative TENS pad has 15, 20-minute intensity level treatments that are designed to support your lower abdomen to help soothe period pain.
This works by sending mild electrical impulses to block any pain messages your body sends out.
The comfortable design allows the pad to stick snug to your body, you could even wear it under clothing without anyone knowing.
Beurer TENS & Warmth Menstrual Pain Relief, EM50
Beurer TENS & Warmth Menstrual Pain Relief, EM50
This cleverly designed TENS treatment cuff fits both your knees and elbows to target the most common joint pain.
It has four pre-set programmes each of which can be used up to an intensity level of 20 to get those hard-to-reach places.
The “cuff” style design is perfect for both knees and elbows to allow you to target your joint pain in comfort.
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You also asked...
There are two main types of electronic stimulation, these are known as transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) and electrical muscle stimulation (EMS).
TENS or perhaps more notably, TENS machines are more often used for long-term pain as well as acute pain. This works by using electrodes placed on the skin near the source of the pain.
Signals are then sent through nerves to block out or reduce the pain signals travelling to the brain.
EMS uses a slightly stronger current, which gets muscles to contract.
While electrodes are placed on the skin of affected areas in the same way, EMS helps improve muscle strength through contracting rather than attempting to block out pain.
The NHS states that there is not yet enough scientific evidence to be certain whether or not TENS and EMS machines work.
Many health professionals report that while it seems to help some people, it is dependent on the individual and the condition being treated.
Electronic muscle stimulators have been found to work on the following:
- Back pain
- Joint pain
- Arthritis
- Muscle conditioning (mostly for athletes, such as long-distance runners)
- Muscle injury from trauma or disease
- Nerve inflammation
- Poor muscle strength
- Urinary incontinence
- Spinal cord injury
- Surgery recovery
Yes, you can build muscle with electrical muscle simulator machines. Electric muscle stimulators work by contracting the muscles, which allows improvement and growth.
TENS machines on the other hand will not help build muscle as they are designed to block out the pain.
As above, there are very few side effects that occur from using electrical stimulation on your muscles.
The most you might get is a rash or irritation if you use a machine that uses an adhesive to attach pads to the affected areas.
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