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This article focuses on the effect of electrical stimulation on muscles and bones. Electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) recharges the body's protein plant. That's how it prevents the muscle decline that usually occurs when broken limbs are immobilized, British researchers have found. Seven men in full-length leg casts used portable electrical units at home to stimulate their thigh muscles. The treatments were administered for one hour each day. After six weeks, tests revealed the men had continued to produce muscle protein in their broken leg at the same rate as in their healthy leg. The researchers say that's why they maintained their thigh muscle mass. By comparison, 14 men who lost 17 percent of their thigh muscle mass while in cast. EMS is gaining ground in injury treatment, but not fast enough for Joseph Kahn, a physical therapist who teaches the technique at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He says, the old-style approach is to wait until the bone heals, then rehabilitate the muscles. EMS works, it's painless and appropriate for almost everybody. |
