Electrotherapy, Safe and Cheap Pain Treatment
If you're suffering from chronic pain, you've probably been suggested to use electrotherapy, but that begs the question just "what is electrotherapy?"
What Is Electrotherapy Treatment?
The most common usage is to use electrotherapy for pain relief. Electrotherapy treatment is a method of treating pain through low current electric signals. Don't worry; it's not as scary as it sounds. The currents used are low power and safe to use.
In fact, electrotherapy is an accepted medical treatment and is even regulated by the FDA. The best part about electrotherapy is that it provides pain relief without all the negative side effects associated with pharmaceutical drugs and invasive surgery.
Electrotherapy is administered by using an electrotherapy machine. This can be done either in a doctor's office or in the comfort of your own home. You can buy electrotherapy machines without a prescription, though some people still like to visit their doctor first.
Electrotherapy is considered to be very safe in most cases. There are very few side effects and is very cheap compared to other treatments.
The biggest concern to watch out for is that they shouldn't be used with implanted medical devices such as pacemakers since the electric current could interfere with them.
What Does Electrotherapy Do?
There are different types of electrotherapy modalities, but the basic principle behind them is all the same.
The machine sends low current electrical signals to your body through the machine's electrodes. These currents then give your body pain relief by stimulating different parts of your tissues, depending on the type of modality used.
For example, an EMS unit focuses specifically on your muscle while a TENS unit focuses on stimulating your nerve cells.
Electrotherapy is used to treat pain relief, but it usually won't solve the underlying problem causing your pain.
The relief typically lasts only as long as the machine is active, though sometimes the relief continues for a little while longer after you're done. Users typically use their machines several times a day.
What Are Electrotherapy Modalities?
Electrotherapy modalities are the different methods of providing electrotherapy. The different modalities use separate machines, but they operate similarly.
Here are the various electrotherapy modalities:
- Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS)
- Inferential Therapy (IFT)
- High Voltage Pulsed Galvanic Stimulation (HVGPS)
- Micro Current Electrotherapy Stimulation (MC)
- Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve stimulating (TENS)
Which modality should you choose? Well, that depends on your specific needs.
Each modality is good for treating certain things better than the others. Users report benefits from different modalities depending on their specific condition.
You may want to do further research if you have a very specific problem, but in most cases, a TENS device will work best for general pain relief. If you're interested in finding pain relief through TENS machine, we recommend that you read our TENS device reviews here before getting one for yourself.
TENS is the most popular modality for pain relief. They're cheap, easy to use, and effective.
They specifically target the nerve cells below the electrode pads. The signals disrupt your nerve cell's ability to transmit pain signals, thereby providing pain relief.
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