Electric muscle stimulation, also referred to as EMS, uses electric impulses that are transferred to the skin and cause the muscles underneath to contract. They are primarily used in physical therapy clinics and hospitals, but have also found their ways onto the commercial fitness market. Electronic muscle stimulators are regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Identification
A device is used to generate the impulses, which travel through small wires to sticky electrodes that are placed on the skin over the muscles that are intended to be stimulated. Many of the devices are small and handheld, making them compact and easy to transport.
History
The origination of the electronic muscle stimulator dates to 1791 and a scientist named Luigi Galvani, who was the first to discover that electronic currents have the ability to cause a muscle to contract. It wasn’t until over 100 years later that scientists discovered that muscles that underwent electronic muscle stimulation experienced permanent changes. In the 1960s, the Soviet Union used electronic muscle stimulators on its elite Olympic athletes.
Function
The impulses that come from the device simulate how the nervous system works when it activates a muscle. The impulses cause the same reactions that natural action potentials that are normally sent by the central nervous system cause when they’re signaling the muscles to contract.
Benefits
Electronic muscle stimulation is used primarily in physical and sports therapy to rehabilitate injured muscles. If muscles are not contracted, they begin to naturally deteriorate. Those who are unable to exercise on their own, whether due to skeletal injury or nervous system damage, undergo consistent treatment to prevent their muscle groups from becoming atrophied. A 2009 study by Vasiliki Gerovasili at Evangelismos Hospital in Athens, Greece, found that electrical muscle stimulators were able to preserve muscle mass in critically ill patients.
Considerations
There are a variety of electronic muscle stimulators available for commercial purchase and are marketed as fitness training devices. It’s important to note that while electronic muscle stimulating devices are helpful for rehabilitative purposes, it is not as efficient for muscle training as lifting weights. Using electronic muscle stimulators as a lazy way to train is not very effective. The FDA, while regulating electronic muscle stimulators for rehabilitative purposes, has not cleared the devices for training purposes.
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