Previously, we introduced a secret weapon used by professional athletes for injury recovery: the only patented tendon and ligament repair agent in the world.
https://uroprolo.blogspot.com/2023/02/stabha-soft-tissue-adapted.html
This time, we will introduce another secret weapon for rehabilitation after professional athletes' injuries: the High-Intensity Focused Electromagnetic (HIFEM) therapy.
History:
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union used electromagnetic fields to treat cosmonauts who had spent extended periods in space.
Due to the lack of gravity and exercise, These cosmonauts suffered from a loss of bone density and muscle. When they returned to Earth, they had weakened bones and muscles.
To solve this problem, the Soviet Union used pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) therapy in combination with medications to increase bone density and combat bone loss.
PEMF was widely used in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and spread to Western Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
In the early 2000s, NASA conducted its own research into the use of PEMF and eventually filed its own patent for the use of PEMF in tissue regeneration
Principle:
HIFEM therapy is based on Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction.
By changing the magnetic field, changes in the biological electric field are produced, resulting in a biological current.
The effects of this magnetic field and biological current differ in different tissues and can promote wound healing, pain relief, bone fracture healing, muscle relaxation, nerve stimulation, muscle training, and joint movement.
Most importantly, according to the principle, this type of therapy is non-invasive and non-contact.
Therefore, it can be widely used in various patients who need it without causing any harm.
Tissue Effects:
Traditional electrical stimulation has been proven to be effective in pain management and wound healing and is widely used in rehabilitation.
However, there are some disadvantages because the electrodes need to be attached to the body surface to conduct current:
1. The pain receptors are close to the skin surface, and external current can directly stimulate them, making it easy to feel pain.
2. The intensity must be controlled; otherwise, it may cause skin damage.
3. The current decreases with depth and cannot be transmitted to deeper tissues.
The above disadvantages are precisely the advantages of magnetic field therapy:
1. No direct contactile current, so it does not cause pain.
2. Does not damage the skin.
3. The magnetic field can penetrate deeper tissues, and the treatment effect is better.
The biological current generated by the magnetic field can produce the following effects when applied to different tissues with different intensity, frequency, and waveform treatment modes:
⁃ Fibroblast and collagen proliferation is increased following each treatment.
⁃ Increased angiogenesis and collagen formation/maturation leading to wound healing.
⁃ Accelerates swelling elimination, restoring normal blood flow, nutrients, and oxygenation of tissue.
⁃ Damaged cells recover faster under treatment.
⁃ Accelerated growth factor production at various stages of the tissue repair.
⁃ Stimulate Osteogenesis and Chondrogenesis.
⁃ Pain management
⁃ Muscle training and reconstruction, improving movement function
⁃ speed up muscle and tissue healing
⁃ reduce muscle degradation or to increase blood circulation locally
⁃ increase metabolic activity in the stimulated region to such an extent that the lipids (triglycerides) break into free fatty acids (FFA) and glycerol; this lipid breakdown leads to an overflow of FFA in the intracellular space and consequently initiates adipocyte dysfunction by the mechanism of endoplasmic reticulum stress (ER-stress) apoptosis
⁃ modulate cell receptors binding, reducing the inflammatory response.
Although there are numerous effects that are difficult to list, it is evident that magnetic field therapy covers almost “all connective tissues!”
Therapy modes:
If based on functionality, it can be roughly classified into the following categories:
Pain relief
Joint lmobilization
Muscle relaxation
Muscle strength enhancement
Fracture healing
Spasm relief
Nerve repair
Muscle building and fat reduction
Urinary incontinence treatment
Sexual dysfunction treatment
Finally, why is high-intensity focused magnetic field therapy considered a secret weapon for athlete rehabilitation after injury?
Apart from providing repair effect for corresponding connective tissue, when an athlete is severely injured and forced to rest, muscle strength and physical ability may decline.
The muscle strength enhancement function of magnetic field therapy can fill the training gap and help to build muscles and reduce fat, thereby maintaining physical condition and shortening the time to return to the competition!
Now, high-intensity focused magnetic field therapy is not just exclusive to athletes, it has become affordable for the general public in terms of training and treatment!
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6028041/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4346366/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8370292/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2988718/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5764361/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6306936/
https://faseb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1096/fj.03-0847fje
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7830993/
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jocd.15606
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dth.13803
https://stemcellres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13287-019-1464-x
https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/22/9/5037
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2019648/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1350453319302346
https://www.ijphy.org/index.php/journal/article/view/359
https://www.eastcoastpodiatry.sg/super-inductive-system-sis/
