I have had various images over the past 24 months or so, some of which could be compared to earlier images, some not. So I will try to make sweeping general statements that cover as much as I think I can glean from all of these:
For hip/spinal images:
Rate of hip degeneration was notably reduced or even stopped for about a decade. One surgeon even noted this, saying that he had expected a lot more degeneration in my right hip over the past decade, compared to earlier images. So, basically I am inclined to think that ICES-PEMF gave me an additional ~ 10 years of useful life in my hip joints, and for the most part spared me from a lot of pain and loss of function during my 50’s, but I would not say that it resulted in regeneration of hip cartilage. Maybe the results would have been better if I had used ICES-PEMF every day for many years. Maybe not. This remains unknown.
Ultimately I ended up having both hips replaced with titanium/UHMW-PE, probably a decade or so later than I would have done if I had not have used PEMF.
Lower spine:
A set of high-resolution digital x-rays taken about 15 years apart were very interesting.
When I was about 42 years old, my physician told me that I had spinal degeneration that would be expected of a “55 year old man”.
When I was 57 years old (about 15 years later), the same physician assessed the new set of images and commented that I had spinal degeneration that would be expected of a “50 year old man”.
I asked the logical and obvious questions to determine if he meant an improvement or just about the same (stable). He said (and I generally agree) that such fine distinctions are almost impossible to make based on x-ray images. But when we tried to quantify it, which is done by measuring disc thickness, we did seem to see slightly more thickness on the more recent images, but only by about 1/2 millimeter or so. A real increase of 1/2 mm would be quite substantial, but this is hard to say with certainty, because discs in the spine are not smooth and flat. They are more like a natural sponge, thicker some places than others, so exactly how thick are they?.. it’s hard to say.
So, did my spine recover or regenerate over the 15-year period? It certainly feels much better to me now than it did 15 years ago. I have stopped needing/using nasty meds like oxy. The images could suggest an improvement in disc thickness, maybe an improvement/reduction of stenosis.
One big difference: I have used ICES-PEMF on my lower back/spine almost every day over the 15-year period. I did not do this on my hip joints.
What would I conclude:
For my hips - PEMF was very helpful in slowing the process of degeneration and reducing suffering even with brief and infrequent use over a period of about a decade.
For my spine - Daily use of ICES-PEMF for about 15 years may have resulted in some spinal recovery/regeneration, but that is not clear. What seems very clear is that it stabilized the degenerative process and reduced it to apparently zero for about 15 years.
Post surgical recovery (hip replacements):
This is easier to answer. By every measure, my recovery from both hip replacements was faster and showed better overall recovery with much less pain than the surgeons or my physician anticipated.