Ultrasound devices: good for recovery/prehab?

Bought one and used it on DOMs and injuries and such - did absolutely nothing - does FEEL like something is going on because it jolts you/buzzes u but for me did NADA. I mostly bought it because I blew out a medial ligament in my ankle in my 20s stepping in one to many gopher holes and the physical therapist I went to used one on me. But the ligament basically never grew back and now my right foot is permanently splayed out a bit when I walk/run. The research also says it basically does nothing but it makes patients think that the therapist is actually doing something useful :) so thats why they use them I think.

Likewise - I bought the compression boots off amazon a month ago trying them out on some minor strains DOMs etc. Also didn't really DO anything in terms of improvement. Will be returning tom.

By far the best things I have for DOMs and injuries are :

heating pads - I have a pulled hammy - I have one heating pad under my thighs, one on my lap while I type this. Noticeable improvement day by day. The idea that cold/ice is beneficial for strains injuries is one of the worst ideas ever IMO. Heating the injured area brings blood flow and blood flow brings improvement.

and Second best thing I have is one of those cheap chinese massager/foot heaters - just search : foot bath spa massager with heat on spamazon and there are tons of them for about $30 $40. This of course only works on your lower legs and can be messy to use - my house is cold and I always have to preheat the water in big pots on the stove to get it hot enough. But it definitely makes ankle and calf issues go away a lot faster in my experience.

Thank you for sharing your experience. I'll likely pass on getting one. I've read ultrasound is suppose to create heat inside the muscle but also read that many practitioners believe there is nothing more than a possible placebo effect.

I've been using a Red Light/NIR wrap costing only $79 and it has been working great at alleviating pain and soothing the muscles but has not gotten rid of the slight stiffness in the right hamstring. I also use it on my knees and it feels great. The Red Light/NIR wraps also generate heat and it is a nice mellow type of heat. I've been recommending Red Light wraps to anyone I come in contact with who is injured or works out. There is a more expensive Red Light/Laser device called Kineon that is suppose to be better but the wavelengths are not much different than the inexpensive wraps (Kineon claims the laser component penetrates deeply and effectively.) Kineon's competitor is FlexBEAM which is Red LEDs only (no laser.)

The problem with both Kineon and FlexBEAM is they have built-in rechargeable batteries and it appears that when those batteries go bad you have to purchase a new device. In that regard the inexpensive Red/IR wraps are greatly superior because they operate using either a standard electrical outlet via a supplied power adapter and they also come with USB-A adapters so you can operate them using a power brick! Because they have no built-in battery they should last a lifetime with careful handling (LEDs last a long, long time.)

My Red Light/IR wrap also works great when I have a headache. I wrap it around my head and back of my neck. The headache goes away in a few minutes. It is dangerous to use Red Light/IR near the eyes and the gonads, those are the two areas the manual warns about but otherwise I use it everywhere. Red Light therapy is said to stimulate the cells to heal and also produce natural endogenous oxycontin for pain relief. I hadn't realized that endorphins are a form of oxycontin. It is different than the exogenous drug version and not dangerous nor addictive, here is some research talking about it (I use to joke that back-in-the-day the reason we all ran high mileage was for the endorphin highs)...

ucsf.edu

Body’s 'Natural Opioids' Affect Brain Cells Much Differently than Morphine

Nina Bai and Dana Smith

Study led by UCSF scientists shows that brain cells react differently to opioid substances created inside the body than they do to purely synthetic opioid drugs.

Link:www.ucsf.edu/news/2018/05/410376/bodys...

theconversation.com

Your body naturally produces opioids without causing addiction or overdose – studying how this process works could help reduce the side effects of opioid drugs

John Michael Streicher

Unlike opioid drugs like morphine and fentanyl that travel throughout the body, the opioids your body produces are released in small quantities to specific locations.

Link:theconversation.com/your-body-naturall...

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