Electrotherapy is a tool used at Therapeutic Sessions to help heal muscles and tissue. It includes a range of treatments using electricity to reduce pain, improve circulation, repair tissues, strengthen muscles, and promote bone growth, leading to improvements in physical functioning and mobility. Electrotherapy is also known as electrical muscle stimulation or e-stim, and it uses an electrical machine to deliver electrical impulses to a patient’s body, especially in certain parts of the body. This stimulation is done to promote and facilitate muscle healing and the regeneration of muscle tissue. Electrotherapy is very effective and as a result, it is not limited to a tool for physical therapy.
Other rehabilitation professionals also use electrotherapy because it has several numerous therapeutic benefits.
Benefits associated with Electrotherapy
- Relaxation of muscle spasms;
- Prevention and cessation of muscular atrophy due to disuse;
- Improved local blood circulation and flow;
- Re-education of muscles using targeted stimulation;
- Preserve and improve range of motion;
- Management and reduction of pain (chronic, post-traumatic, and post-surgical acute);
- Prevention of deep vein thrombosis post-surgery;
- Facilitation of wound healing; and
- Improvement in the effectiveness in delivering prescription drugs.
Devices used for electrotherapy offer different therapeutic waveforms to address different patient needs. As part of the device, electrodes are attached to the area that needs to be treated. When the device is activated, the electrical energy of the device causes the patient’s muscles to contract. This muscle contraction imitates the body’s natural movement during activity and can prevent the muscles from atrophying. The electrical energy does provide a sensation felt by the patient, but most consider electrotherapy to be painless.
Electrotherapy is scientifically supported as being a useful modality to reduce both pain and swelling while improving healing outcomes for several types of patients.