What Is an Electric Muscle Stimulator?
Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES) is a technology that uses 20-50Hz low-frequency current to stimulate specific muscle groups through electrodes to twitch or contract, and then achieves "functional" repair.
- Chinese name
- Neuromuscular electrical stimulation
- Foreign name
- Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation, NMES
- Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES) is a technology that uses 20-50Hz low-frequency current to stimulate specific muscle groups through electrodes to twitch or contract, and then achieves "functional" repair.
Neuromuscular electrical stimulation compared to functional electrical stimulation
- Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) is another commonly used electrical stimulation that can act on muscles and nerves. The main difference is that the purpose of FES is to induce muscle movement through a predetermined electrical pulse sequence to complete a task. NMES is more focused on causing muscle contraction as a training or physical therapy.
Characteristics of neuromuscular electrical stimulation
- Since the essence of NMES is to control the nerves of the target muscle group, the prerequisite for applying NMES is that the nerves of the target muscle are intact. Commonly used for strength training of wasted muscles due to long periods of inactivity, surgery or injury to maintain muscle mass, maintain and increase joint mobility, promote voluntary muscle control, and reduce spasm. On the other hand, it plays a role in inhibiting disuse muscle atrophy caused by some non-neuropathy. In recent years, commercial neuromuscular electrical stimulators have been developed. Domestic stimulators can not only facilitate the use of patients, but also improve the independent operability of patients.
Characteristics of neuromuscular electrical stimulation parameters
- Adjusting related parameters, NMES can achieve the purpose of less fatigue and optimal mechanical output. Then, a full understanding of the parameter settings can achieve the intended functional rehabilitation effect and ensure the safety of the patient. Frequency, pulse width, intensity, and duration of action are all important parameters that need to be investigated. Stimulation frequency is defined as the number of pulses generated per second during the stimulation process, usually 20-50Hz. The calculation methods of the wave widths of different wave types are not consistent. For pulse trains, the wave width is also called pulse duration; for bi-phase waves, the wave width consists of positive and negative phase durations. For bursts, the duration of each burst is the burst width. The ideal pulse width is 200-400 s. Another parameter that plays an important role in muscle contraction and fatigue is stimulation intensity / amplitude, which usually refers to the stimulation current value, in milliamps. The higher the stimulation intensity, the greater the degree of depolarization affected by the electrode. However, small portable stimulation units for clinical applications or electrical stimulation devices for home use are usually battery-powered, and a current setting of 150V is used to manually set the current. For the muscles being stimulated, the applied stimulation parameters and the purpose of the stimulation, the dosage of NMES used is usually very different, from 30 minutes per stimulation, once a day to 1 hour per stimulation, 3 The duration varies from 2 weeks to 3 months. All parameters used for neuromuscular electrical stimulation must be set by the rehabilitation therapist based on the rehabilitation goals the patient has already achieved.