Anyone ever used this, or have any thoughts:
http://www.hammernutrition.com/products/globus-premium-fitness.gbf.html?navcat=electrostimulation
Anyone ever used this, or have any thoughts:
http://www.hammernutrition.com/products/globus-premium-fitness.gbf.html?navcat=electrostimulation
In theory it makes sense.
silly and worthless.
I can see where you are coming from, and it is why I am courious.
But I remember being injured back in college and they used the EMG machine, which worked. I can see it promoting blood flow and helping with recovering.
I did my Master's thesis on enhancing bone recovery with mechanical stimulation (we looked at whole body vibration (WBV) training, applied to rats, and studied the cells/microscopy work). I've read studies on e-stim, and even cited a few in my thesis, and it does work. There's been lots of animal studies too, which allows for invasive analysis of what's happening at the cellular and molecular level. I haven't read the research in a few years, but I believe it depends on the frequency of the device. We know that muscle and bone have different recovery rates and need different magnitudes of mechanical stimuli. There's probably a lot of shady devices out there, so you'd want to check out the device and make sure it's what's used in a clinical/medical setting. The WBV plate we used in my thesis was sold by a medical company and used by a local PT clinic. We had to calibrate it to make sure it vibrated at the stated frequency and magnitude. There's other WBV plates being marketed commercially for gym and personal use, but I wouldn't trust these cause they may not be safe. I'd think the same think applies to e-stim devices.
I actually fractured a rib while I was finishing my thesis project. I was 8 weeks away from running my first marathon. I kept running very easy (100-110 mpw, ~low-level mechanical stimulus to the ribs), taped the right rib cage, went to the university training room for e-stim every day, and iced (ice only helps with pain, NOT tissue recovery). I was completely pain free in 3 weeks, and was able to run my first marathon (only a minute off the OT qualifier, but later qualified). Really, any mechanical stimulus, whether walking, running, cross training, PT, etc., is going to have a positive benefit on tissue recovery due to increased blood flow to the area. Ice, on the other hand, is probably more of a placebo effect and only helps pain (unless there's a mechanical factor involved, ~ice cupping).
Thanks Jaguar1, very helpful.