You’ve seen the pictures before: athletes with these bizarre, circular pads stuck to their body, while they work with some kind of handheld device. This is electric muscle stimulation, or EMS, and there’s a reason everyone’s obsessed with it. Why does it work? How does it work? What’s going on here?
During EMS, the wires from the device are connected to the adhesive patches, which are placed over the desired part of your body. The device then delivers electric current to the patches and into your muscle tissue, causing a motor response. It might sound strange and unnatural, but in one form or another, EMS has been around for years. In fact, the first known use was more than 2,000 years ago by the Egyptians. They used electrical stimulation from certain kinds of fish to treat pain and disease. The Greeks and Romans later followed. People around the world began understanding that electrical currents can control and manipulate muscle tissue, and the rest is history.
Fast forward to today, and it’s not uncommon to have your own personal EMS device in your hands. EMS is typically used for two main reasons: therapy or muscle education, and pain relief.
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Pain Relief
We don’t know for sure why electronic muscle stimulation helps with pain, but there are two widely known theories. The first says that the stimulation makes the brain release your body’s natural painkillers. Sure enough, science has noticed increases in these chemicals post-EMS use. The second theory is that the stimulation helps to block nerves that deliver pain. Either way, we know that EMS can help soothe aching muscles after a particularly grueling workout, and thus speed up recovery.
Muscle Education/Therapy
Because electrical stimulation forces a muscle to contract, using an EMS device can teach (or re-teach) your brain and body to use specific muscles. Whether that muscle has always been particularly weak or you’re coming back from an injury, electronic muscle stimulation can give you the much-needed boost you need to use the desired muscles.
And even if you think you’re using your muscles to their maximum, such may not be the case. Some research says that at best, when we contract a muscle, only 30% of the fibers are engaged. That means potentially, 70% isn’t being utilized. EMS could help with this.
When all is said and done, the benefits of EMS include increased strength and muscle density, bigger muscles, better explosiveness, quicker recovery, higher jumping, and better circulation.
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The WOD Life carries a variety of EMS devices, including Compex. Whether you want to use it pre- or post-workout (or during!), for recovery or injury prevention, to increase strength or tone up, Compex can help. It has up to 40 programs to choose from that cover conditioning, recovery, pain management, and fitness. View our selection online today, and find your way to better health and fitness.
