TENS/EMS therapy for atrophied muscles

[monkeybus]

Folks, are you all OK?  I went through a phenomenal spasticity and fatigue period.  Still going through it.  Bad as it is, I know it will pass.  It always passes.  Amazing that I used to suffer through it without  medicine, unless you count booze.

I've been taking phenomenal amounts of Modafinil and 4-AP.  They work.  And my love/hate relationship with Gabapentin continues.  Something in 4-AP to force the signals through the nerves, plug the holes in the myelin and Gabapentin to relax the muscles.  More of an art than a science.  I usually end up taking too much Gabapentin and getting stoned out of my head.

Anyway, I'm back on the TENS.

amazon.co.uk/NeuroTrac-ECS3...

In the past, I always used to concentrate on my calf muscles, what I believe is called the gastrocnemius.  That is where the stiffness is.  Nice, works well.  

But today I'm trying it on my thigh muscles, feels completely different.  I'm thinking that the do a big chunk of the work when lifting the leg/walking, I may be able to reduce the spasticity in my right leg.

Reading up on it, as you'd expect there is pretty much zero information on TENS treatment for our disease.

But, here we go.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

Here is a quote...

In the present study, a single session of TENS resulted in significant clinical inhibition of spasticity; however, lower extremity strength did not improve. On the spastic side, TENS significantly decreased the mean H reflex amplitude, the H/M ratio, the H slope, and the H slope/M slope ratio; and increased the H reflex maximum latency. This study had some limitation walking speed was not measured after several TENS applications.

In conclusion, TENS for hemiplegic patients with spastic lower extremities due to CVD markedly improved clinical parameters and significantly changed electrophysiological variables. The results of this study suggest that TENS is effective when used to manage spasticity.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/253...

CONCLUSIONS:

A combination of therapeutic exercise and TENS may reduce spasticity and improve balance, gait, and functional activity in chronic stroke patients.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/199...

CONCLUSION:

TENS can improve the effectiveness of task-related exercise for increasing walking capacity in hemiparetic stroke survivors.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/202...

RESULTS:

A significant improvement was recorded in spasticity of hip adductors, gait parameters and knees position of the experimental group.

CONCLUSION:

Functional application of TENS to hip abductors of children with spastic diplegic CP can reduce spasticity and improve gait pattern.

You get the general idea.  I've just done 2 hours of burst TENS on the back of my thigh, I'm now doing some EMS on the same muscle.  Feels like a deep, deep massage.  Very nice, definitely working my muscles.

TENS is weird.  Like waves rippling through my muscles.  Gently massaging me.  EMS is like a vigorous pounding of my muscles.  Anyway, I like them both.

I've read that EMS is used seriously by professional sports' physiotherapists.  But it's very much a dark art.  Scraps of information out there, talk of frequencies and pulse widths.   Used to quickly heal injuries in sports.  Drugs used as well.  Again, little info out there, but I can't help but think this is useful for us.  All of us dealing with ongoing injuries.

I've read that these TENS units are prescription only in the USA.  I know that in Japan they are hidden away in the drugstore, Just there with no description, only for people in the know.  In the UK, the NHS hands them out to women in labour.  Then again, the NHS half-way endorses Homoeopathy, hmmm.  Mind you, I'm looking at everything Ayurvedic, Chinese medicine, essential oils.  I'll be on crystal healing before too long.  I'll see if I can find a sports scientist on Reddit and get some half-way professional advice.

I am going to up the ante and start walking seriously with crutches, leg exercises in the house, anything I can do to strengthen my legs.  Drugs, electronics and exercise.  The fatigue is killing me though.

I'm going to write up a long post about remyelination.  I'm upping my intake of ALCAR, Lion's mane and CDP Choline.  There are drugs that aid remyelination into the bargain.  I'll write it up later.

Anyway, take care folks.