Amiram Ehrlich, co-owner of StudioTec Systems of Montreal is helping people with back pain heal their injuries with a new Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS) technology that also provides the benefit of a full workout. People suffering with muscle back pain or back muscle injury are often relegated to the sidelines when it comes to continuing their workout regime.
Amiram states the following,”The EMS workout technology is from Europe and we are finding great success with clients who suffer from back muscle injuries. The technology is best suited for people with muscle injuries of any type. EMS provides the ability to strengthen the back muscles which can assist in the rehabilitation of the client and also provide a full workout for the rest of the body. Prior to this EMS system, people suffering from back muscle injuries were limited in the type of workout they could participate in. Now they can strengthen the injured area as well as the rest of their body.”
John Miller, Physiotherapist at Physio Works in Australia echoes the back pain issue, “Most causes of low back pain are muscle, ligament or joint related. Most commonly, these back injuries are caused by muscular strains, ligament sprains and joint dysfunction, particularly when pain arises suddenly during or following physical loading of your spine. Muscle fatigue, excessive loads, high speeds or poor lifting postures are the most common causes.”
An article written by New York University’s Langone Medical Center outlines how back muscle injuries increase in pain, “An episode of lower back pain that lasts for more than two weeks can lead to muscle weakness (since using the muscles hurts, the tendency is to avoid using them). This process leads to disuse atrophy (muscle wasting), and subsequent weakening, which in turn causes more back pain because the muscles are less able to help hold up the spine. Chronic stress can also lead to muscle weakness and back pain. Stress causes back muscles to tighten in a fight or flight response, depriving muscles of energy needed to support the spine. Another key structure in low back pain is the hamstring muscles, the large muscles in the back of the thighs. Patients with tight hamstrings tend to develop low back pain, and those with lower back pain tend to develop tight hamstrings. The theory is that tight hamstrings limit motion in the pelvis, so the motion gets transferred to the bottom lumbar motion segments and increases the stress in the low back.”
Amiram explains the EMS technology as follows,”EMS (Electrical Muscle Stimulation) is the stimulation of muscle contraction using electric impulses. It activates muscle contraction via electrical stimuli. In EMS training electrical impulses activate the muscles externally, to the muscle there is no difference whether the electric stimuli originate from the brain or the electrodes, the muscle contracts. The EMS session does not affect the joints and reaches the deeper muscle tissue. The workout suit has probes strategically placed to stimulate the upper and lower back muscles, upper and lower abdomen, thighs and buttocks, shoulders, chest and biceps. Because you are working all the muscles at one time, you obtain a complete strength workout. Two workouts of twenty minutes each is all that is required each week. Again, because of the efficiency of the technology, you get more accomplished in a shorter period of time.”
Clients who have used this new technology have noticed improved movement and less back pain. Some people who had suffered restricted body movement due to injury were seeing extended movement and more flexibility after several sessions.
More information about this new workout technology and to review some of the EMS study reports, go to: http://www.studiotec.ca.