Electronic Massage
Gary and I are keeping up to date on the Government guidelines and professional bodies advice on re-opening the treatment room. It is unlikely to be before the 4th July 2020, there is currently talk that it may be August before we can treat hands on. We will of course keep you informed of the re-opening date along with the changes that we will need to implement to minimise risks of infection.
Runnersworld Eastcote is having a deep clean next week in preparation for re-opening, in line with Government guidelines on 15th June.
Whilst we are unable to treat you hands on, there are a variety of electronic massage tools that can be helpful in reducing tension in soft tissues, I will discuss two here:
Vibration/percussion Massage therapy guns
A handheld device, which , when held against the skin has a feeling of percussion/vibration. It is important to avoid bone with massage guns, they are intended for use on soft tissues and uncomfortable on bone.
Most massage guns have a variety of speeds/intensities, which is useful as it allows you to set the intensity according to the sensation you would like to receive. Personally when I am working over a very tense muscle/area, I prefer a gentler speed, then, as the muscle softens, I like to increase the intensity. Some folk like the feel of higher intensity settings on tense areas. Our individual nervous system’s response can help to guide us as to what is best.
The varying attachments can also help with working over different muscle groups, the larger, harder heads are good for large muscle groups. Whereas the softer heads are generally better for upper traps (across top of shoulder).
It is important to ensure you work on the muscles either side of the spine, rather than on the spine itself.
There are many brands out there, the ones that Gary and I have tried are:
Hypervolt - https://performbetter.co.uk/product/hypervolt/
Compex- https://www.compex.com/uk/compex-fixx-1
Theragun-https://www.theragun.com/uk/en-gb/home
Pulseroll-https://pulseroll.com/product/massage-gun/
The theragun and compex shape makes access to your own back easier than the drill/gun shaped hypervolt and pulseroll, however, the pulseroll and hypervolt are quieter and come with more attachments.
Electronic muscle stimulation
You are possibly familiar with ‘Tens’ machines (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation), these work by transmitting a small electrical signal across (trans) the skin (cutaneous) at a pre-set frequency designed to stimulate the body’s pain receptors close to the skin. Tens machines can be quite effective in reducing the pain sensation we feel in an area. A reduction in the level of pain we feel, can help to settle our nervous system and may allow us to move the area more freely.
There are a variety of models on the market.
Electronic Muscle Stimulation (EMS) / Functional Electronic Stimulation (FES)
A piece of kit with electrode pads placed on the skin close to motor nerve endings and attached with wire or through a wireless signal to a machine with pre-set frequency levels according to the level of stimulation required. The main functions to look out for are:
TENS – most EMS/FES machines will have Tens functions which works as mentioned above.
Massage –relaxing, reviving, reduce muscle soreness
Strength & Resistance – these functions are useful for recovery from injury, when you need to be careful with load bearing. They are also useful for times when you are unable to get to the gym. The strength and resistance programs need to be approached with care as at higher intensity settings they can produce quite lengthy DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness), which is not generally harmful, however, can be uncomfortable for up to a week. If you train moderately then start with a lower intensity to get used to the feeling before increasing the intensity. Also take care leading up to competitions as you are effectively causing the muscle to work and as with any workload you will then need to give your muscles sufficient recovery time.
Specific workloads such as get a six pack, tendonitis, tone your arms.
You can place the electrodes on an area and just let the machine stimulate the muscles to work, or you can add an exercise such as squats & calf raises which will intensify the result. Effectively by performing an exercise whilst having equipment stimulating the motor nerve, you are bringing your nervous system’s awareness to that muscle group/area, which can help to stimulate the motor nerve’s response and muscle fibre’s growth.
It is important to bear in mind that even with mechanical stimulation, there is only so much energy/workload a muscle is capable of. So, whilst it may be tempting to ramp up the intensity, you will often get results quicker at a lower intensity for repeated short periods – ie stimulate the muscle to work for 5 mins 3 times a day at 10-20 setting, rather than high intensity 90+ for 15 mins. As you begin to feel and see muscle growth (strength/responsiveness), then you can explore increasing the intensity. This is particularly important to note when recovering from injury-I remember when I was rehabilitating my calf tear-when the muscle was exhausted it would just completely give up and feel like having wobbly jelly to walk on, I would then have to patiently wait until the muscle was rested enough to let me work it again.
There are a number of models on the market with varying functions and at varying price ranges – Gary and I have been using the Compex Brand/machine, which is widely used by the likes of GB athletes, Crossfit and Cycling. We have a good relationship with UK suppliers DJO and can often source the machines at favourable rates for our clients.
Compex have a range of fitness and sport models. For amateur sport I would recommend a minimum of the model SP4 which includes competition recovery and some rehabilitation settings.
If you are looking to the wireless models (SP6 & SP8) then you will need to consider Velcro wraps to hold the pods in place.
You can find out more about the compex muscle stimulators here.
https://www.djoglobal.com/our-brands/compex
Stay safe, stay healthy, we look forwards to being able to see you as soon as it is considered safe by UK Government.