When you are suffering from symptoms like pain and weakness, your everyday life can become frustrating and exhausting. You may feel as though your body has betrayed you, with simple tasks requiring great effort, leaving you unable to enjoy your life the way you used to. Electrical muscle stimulation (E-STIM) therapy can provide you with relief and give you hope for the future.
E-STIM therapy complements other rehab methods by retraining muscles, speeding recovery, decreasing pain, and empowering independent use. The variety of benefits makes it a versatile tool to help patients regain function after injury, surgery, paralysis, or general weakness.
At Naples Community Injury Center, we offer electrical muscle stimulation therapy in Estero as part of an overall treatment plan that is designed to help you enjoy your life again after an injury. Begin your journey to healing by calling our team of physiotherapists and chiropractors in Estero at (239) 631-5445 or contacting us online.
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What Does Electrical Muscle Stimulation Therapy Do?
Electrical muscle stimulation therapy, also called neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) or E-STIM therapy, uses a small battery-powered device to deliver low-level electrical currents to nerves and muscles in the body for patients in Estero. Here’s what electrical muscle stimulation therapy does:
- Stimulates muscles: The electric impulses make muscle fibers contract and relax, helping re-educate muscles, prevent atrophy, and regain strength and control – especially after injuries, surgery, or paralysis.
- Reduces pain and swelling: Electrical stimulation helps modulate nerve signals to ease pain, reduce inflammation by improving circulation and fluid drainage from injury sites, and stimulate natural pain-relief endorphins.
- Speeds healing: It is thought to accelerate tissue repair by increasing blood flow to damaged areas. The gentle muscle contractions promote regenerative metabolic processes.
- Improves range of motion: As muscles and joint tissues regain flexibility and movement control, overall mobility is restored over the treatment period.
Overall, the small electrical signals offer a non-invasive way to re-energize nerves and muscles to reduce pain and regain strength and mobility at an accelerated rate compared to inactivity. It serves as a re-education signaling system to the affected areas to prompt healing.
What Are the Benefits of Electrical Muscle Stimulation?
E-STIM therapy is a low-risk modality that can provide significant benefits for muscle rehabilitation and reeducation goals. Here are some of the main benefits of electrical muscle stimulation therapy:
- Prevents muscle atrophy: The contractions stimulate protein synthesis and muscle growth to maintain strength and mass, especially important after injuries or immobilization require disuse.
- Reeducates nerves and muscles: Signals help reestablish neural pathways and coordination to regain voluntary control of muscles that have been inhibited or paralyzed.
- Reduces pain and swelling: Electrical currents block pain signals and facilitate circulation/drainage to accelerate healing. Endorphins are triggered too.
- Improves range of motion: As muscles relax and strengthen, stiffness decreases allowing for greater mobility throughout treatment.
- Enhances functional abilities: Carrying out daily physical tasks becomes less challenging as muscle capacity and control are restored.
- Non-invasive method: No drugs or surgery required, just electrode pads delivering targeted electrical stimuli.
When used properly under the supervision of a chiropractor or physiotherapist, the low-level electrical energy applied during E-STIM therapy has an excellent safety profile. Most people tolerate the treatments very well with mild or minimal side effects reported.
Who Does E-STIM Therapy Help?
Electrical muscle stimulation therapy can be used to help people in Estero, Florida who are suffering from workplace injuries, car accident injuries, and sports injuries. But there are other types of patients it can also help, including:
- Stroke patients: Electrical stimulation helps reeducate nerves and muscles affected by paralysis or weakness to regain motor function. It prevents muscle waste away while recovery progresses.
- Orthopedic surgery patients: Stimulation applied post-operation can control swelling/pain, improve range of motion, and prevent atrophy while immobilized or inactive during the healing period.
- Spinal cord injury victims: Electrical stimuli to nerves disconnected from the brain due to trauma can “wake up” communication pathways. It provides hope for reconnecting the brain and body after a spinal cord injury.
- Arthritis: Electrical stimulation interferes with pain signaling to provide analgesic relief from chronic joint/muscle aches or neuropathic symptoms when other options fall short.
- IC/Sciatica/CP/MS patients: Those with nerve compression issues, spasticity dysfunction, or progression neurological conditions use e-stim to manage symptoms when function declines.
Are you wondering if E-STIM therapy is right for you? You can learn more about electrical muscle stimulation therapy in Estero and the other treatments we offer by calling us at (239) 631-5445 or contacting us online.
Is E-STIM the Same as TENS?
No, E-STIM therapy and Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) therapy are not the same thing. Both involve applying electrical currents through electrode pads placed on the skin to achieve therapeutic effects. Electrical muscle stimulation therapy is used for rehabilitation, and TENS is often used to provide pain relief for headaches, arthritis, and other conditions.
E-STIM uses low-frequency currents to simulate how the central nervous system controls muscles, while TENS uses higher-frequency, modulated currents that stimulate sensory nerves primarily to address pain. The main goal of electrical muscle stimulation therapy is to restore muscle strength and prevent atrophy, while the main goal of TENS is to relieve pain.
Get E-STIM Therapy in Estero, Florida
Are you ready to enjoy all that beautiful Estero has to offer free from the pain and limitations your injury has caused? We offer electrical muscle stimulation (E-STIM) therapy in Estero, and we may use it as one part of an overall plan for your rehabilitation.
At Naples Community Injury Center, we are a compassionate team with more than 60 years of combined experience. During your first visit with us, we will take time to learn about your symptoms and injuries and understand how they are limiting you and keeping you from the lifestyle you are used to enjoying.
Learn more about the full range of physiotherapy and chiropractic services we offer to treat your symptoms and address the root cause of your pain. Call (239) 631-5445 or contact us online to begin your journey to a pain-free future.
