Electrostimulation in Sport

[Guest guest]

Peridodically we come across athletes who ask what the value of

electrostimulation is in sports training and rehabilitation.

Well, there are several different classes and types of electrostimulator,

including faradic, interferential, TENS (Transcutaneous Neuromuscular

Stimulation), galvanic and microcurrent. The broadest categorisation divides

electrostimulation into two classes: Microcurrent and macrocurrent. The

former uses very tiny currents (typically millionths of an amp) and cannot be

felt at all and its role is primarily for tissue repair and pain management,

whereas macrocurrent machines apply currents typically 10-70 milliamps which

cause a definite sensation or even strong muscle contraction. The latter

can be used to strengthen muscle and control pain in some cases, but should

not be used at higher intensity on any tissues which are partially or fully

ruptured.

Microcurrent may be used on any tissues at any stage of damage. It is also

quite frequently used for facilitating healing of severe wounds such as the

decubitus ulcers of diabetes or pressure sores. Personally, after using it

with many hundreds of athletes, I have found that static and dynamically

applied microcurrent, using a range of various frequencies from 0.5 - 40Hz)

using massage electrodes, generally offers very comfortable and successful

resolution of musculoskeletal pain and injury.

Microcurrent applied across the brain and spinal cord had been used widely in

Russia for management of overtraining, facilitating adaptation to stress,

overcoming jetlag and so forth. I first came across this modality when Serge

Reding stayed with my family in the early 1970s and brought this type of

machine with him for use after every training session. This type of brain

wave entrainment or biofeedback device, sometimes combined with sound and

light stimulation, is now being quite widely marketed in the USA for

enhancing learning, reducing stress, accelerating learning etc. The books,

" Superlearning " (Ostrander & Schroder) and " Mega Brain " (Hutchison) are a few

of the texts available which discuss this sort of application of ES.

Chapter 4 of " Supertraining " (Siff, 2000) contains many other details on all

the different applications of electrostimulation in sport. One of the

biomechanics websites also has some of my information on electrostim there

(this site often gives problems, but have some patience, since it invariably

corrects itself):

<http://24.16.71.95/SPORTSCI/JANUARY/archives2.html>

Dr Mel C Siff

Denver, USA

supertraining