Re: FUSION SURGERY - Possible Alternatives MIKE

[Guest guest]

Hey Mike, maybe it's me, but I can't tell if you think it is or it

isn't a good idea to use the stimulator. In once sense it seems you

are, in another it seems you say the studies say no. The thing in

my case also, is that the bones are non-displaced, sitting in the

perfect anatomical position, most likely because of that small

section in the center that had remained fused. So, technically they

are set in proper alignment & we do want them to " knit together, "

so I've lost 'ya.

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I was making more of a general observation rather than specific in

your case. However, as long as your foot bones are in the correct

position and the goal is to promote fusion or knitting, then the

procedure is absolutely warranted.

The technical name for the procedure is Pulsed Electromagnetic Field

Therapy (PEMF). For additional background for the rest of the list,

I am going to type out some information from " Energy Medicine - the

Scientific Basis " by Oschman. I can't recommend this book

highly enough for anyone who wants to know more about how and why

some of the energy modalities work. At any rate, pages 73-75 say:

" Should you fracture a bone in an arm or leg, and it fails to heal

in 3-6 months, there is a good chance that your physician will

prescribe an energy method called pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF)

therapy. Your prescription is for a small battery-operated pulse

generator connected to a coil that you will place next to your

injury for 8-10 hours a day. The PEMF device produces a magnetic

field that induces a current to flow in nearby tissues. Induction

is the process by which magnetic fields cause currents to flow in

nearby conductors. It is the basis for transformers and other

electrical devices. The laws governing induction have been a

cornerstone of physics and electrical engineering for well over a

century. Clinical tests have proved that PEMF therapy will " jump

start " bone repair. Medical research has has revealed that magnetic

fields 'can convert a stalled healing process into active repair,

even in patients unhealed for as long as 40 years' (Bassett 1995).

Hence Western science has finally confirmed and accepted a concept

that has been part of traditional energy medicine for thousands of

years.

The idea of jump starting a healing process is familiar to anyone

who has practiced energetic bodywork or movement therapies. It is

fascinating to follow the saga of how the energetic approach in bone

healing was discovered, accpeted as a therapy, rejected and

reinstated by the medical community.

Modern use of energy fields to stimulate bone repair began shortly

after the discovery of 'animal electricity' at the end of the 18th

century. By the mid-1800's the preferred method for treating slow

healing fractures was to pass electricity through needles surgically

implanted in the fracture region. The technique was banished from

medical practice, along with unproven electrotherapies in the early

1900's.

In the 1950s and 1960s, there was a resurgance of medical interest

in electric and magnetic therapy. After considerable effort by

scientists at a number of research centres...both electric and

magnetic therapy for fracture 'non-unions' were granted the 'safe

and effective' classification by the US Food and Drug Administration

(FDA). To obtain this status, many studies were done to document

the success, lack of side-effects and mechanisms of energy field

methods.

Not surprisingly, the scientific evidence is that PEMF therapy is

effective because it conveys 'information' that triggers specific

repair activities within the body. The currents induced in tissues

by PEMF mimic the natural electrical activities created within bones

during movements. Pulsing magnetic fields initiate a cascade of

activities, from the cell membrane to the nucleus and on to the gene

level, where specific changes take place. "