On March 12 2021, I underwent L5-S1 right side decompression (MILD Procedure) to correct Stenosis which was compressing the nerve root and causing the butt and leg pain. Prior to surgery, I spent 18 months attempting every conservative treatment option available to me (chiropractic, acupuncture, PRP, PT). Nothing resolved the problem so, I grudgingly opted for a surgical alternative as I was experiencing loss of muscle strength.
Following surgery, the pain increased due to the trauma at the nerve root caused by the presence of blood product, swelling, etc.
At 7 weeks post-op, I am noticeably worse than I was prior to surgery.
Next step is to obtain a fresh MRI to see if the surgeon missed something or if a mistake was made.
I continue to use opioid pain meds at night so I can sleep.
Assuming the surgery removed the boney impingement, then my suspicion is, the sciatic nerve has become entrapped in the deep gluteal region due to constant irritation.
In the meantime, I have become acquainted with PEMF as a possible means of helping reduce the inflammation and pain so I purchased a A9 unit and started treatment yesterday 5/1/21 by applying both coils side-by-side directly over the painful area in my glute.
I intend to apply the treatment 24/7 for 30 days.
I will send updates every 5 days.
I’m really hoping this will work for me.
Best of luck with this—it is the kind of inflammatory problem that PEMF often helps and hopefully it will be so in your case!
I’m hoping this will help you too… my friend is using the a9 for his sciatica… he’s been trying it with different configurations and different power levels with no notable relief over the 2 weeks using 10+hrs at a time… I’ll have to check back with him.
on a different note, he had wrist pain, used it on that, and had relief. 
Thank you. It is my hope as well.
I’m using the highest intensity and plan to wear it 24/7. We’ll see.
Coils stacked (bumpy-side-to-bumpy-side) is probably best, with the unit set to H or even X intensity under these conditions.
Please let us know how it works.
Interesting. Ok. I’ll give it a try.
Thanks Bob.
Ok. I’ve done what you suggested. Stacked the two coils bumpy side to bumpy side, taped them together and put them over the desired location. Switched the unit to ON and X setting.
Initial sensation was a mild twitch under the coils. Interesting.
I understood the bumpy side is supposed to be placed against the skin.
Stacking them as you suggest seems counter to the instructions.
What happens to the EMP with the stacked configuration?
This is all very intriguing to me.
Its best to just follow my basic guidelines for coil placement:
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generally always: bumpy sides away from the skin
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when stacking coils, tape them bumpy-sides together. Then you can place the stacked coils either side against the skin. (it is magnetically symmetric, both sides are essentially identical)
If I ever suggest something different (and rarely but occasionally I do), it is the result of a lot of calculus and hundreds of hours of testing; it would be impossible to explain it in ASCII text. But I have tested it, and I know it works, even if it is too complex to explain.
About the nuance of different coil configurations on EMP. Apologies in advance if I am a bit too brutally honest, but honestly is in very short supply in the world of PEMF, so that’s what I stick with.
It’s not really an EMP in the usual sense of the word (though technically it is), and the magnetics are fairly simple but change rapidly.
Philosophically using PEMF this is sort of like driving a car: you do not need to know about the details of computational thermo-fluid dynamics of combustion of aerosolized liquid hydrocarbons to drive a car. I mean, honestly, the last time you had surgery, did you discuss the exact alloy and temper of the surgical blades they intended to use during the surgery. Of course not. But strangely, when dealing with PEMF, people understandably think they should know all of the technical details, and this is because PEMF marketers trick them into believing they have a scientific secret to tell them. Usually it is a secret “frequency”, or a special amount of “Gauss”.
All of the false claims and misinformation on the Internet related to PEMF are intended to give people a “sciency” feel of intellectual satisfaction, to sucker them in with this false sense of understanding, so their over-priced products are easier to sell.
The reality is this: PEMF is way to complex to discuss here, and mostly it remains a total medical mystery. This is OK; many things in medicine are a total mystery, such as anasthesia:
Occasionally someone claims they solved the mystery, but read in detail: they did not. They just found another molecule. They did not solve the mystery. Here is why: anesthesia prevents the consciousness and memory of pain. And we have really no Idea how memory or consciousness work, so understanding how anesthesia works is utterly impossible. Yet we use it safely hundreds of millions of times every year, and it is one of the great pillars of modern medicine. Modern surgery, for example, would be impossible without anesthesia.
PEMF is analogous to this. You could know everything there is to know about electromagnetism, and still not really understand how that relates to biological processes. So, to really help you in a practical way, we need to firmly stick to the basics. It’s best if you just follow my guidelines without trying to get too much into the details of the nuance of PEMF.
Nonetheless, I have published a lot of that information in the form of hundreds of YouTube videos and many scientific papers, so you could always refer to those if you really want to look at the details of PEMF. But still, no one really understands it. And that’s the honest truth.
I have recently experienced sciatica due to disc compression in L3 through S1. I will have an MRI next week to try to nail down the exact location for the problem. I want to start PEMF now to try for some relief. My question is should the PEMF be applied to the area experiencing the pain or the spinal column area causing the nerve impingement? Thanks for any thoughts
Hi Steve.
This is a question best answered by Dr. Bob. I started treating with PEMF just two days ago.
I’m interested to read his response as well.
Best of luck to you.
Tim
Several people have asked me this, have tried it, and this is what we think we are works best:
First, I would assume that the pain arises from the area on the spine where the nerve emerges, so wherever there is pressure, I would treat the nerve there (in this case, at the impinging area of the spine)
If that does not help, then try locating the coils further and further down the nerve toward the area where you feel the pain. You may need to look up the neuroanatomy (easy to do on the Internet).
How far to move them each time? I would say about 1.5 to 2 coil diameters (3 or 4 inches) down along the path of the nerve.
How long should you leave the coils in each test position?:
Starting at the spine, I would say at least an hour or two. Then, if that is not helping, try moving them down along the nerve pathway from the spine toward where it actually hurts, holding the coils in place at each spot for at least 30-40 minutes. This may work if the nerve impingement causing your trouble is not actually at the spine, but is somewhere further down along the nerve.
You may get relief more quickly. It may take longer. It may work instantly. It may not work at all.
Individual biological variation makes this a trial-and-error process. But with practice you will get pretty good at it.
Thanks Bob. I will try starting with the lumbar and work my way down, and will give some feedback on results
excellent, thanks. Please give as much detail as you can, people ask about this all the time, so it will be helpful.
You may have better success by treating the brain stem first. When it comes to spinal issues, I find it is important to stimulate nerve roots associated with the site. Even better when I treat brain stem, thoracic and dorsal root ganglion as well.
About a week ago, I received in the mail and started using the A9 unit for the condition described above. My initial commitment was to report my experience as I go along.
I started by applying the coils to both sides of the L5 region just above my SI joints. I wasn’t able to do this for too long because it was irritating.
Dr. Bob suggested I stack the coils and apply to the sciatic nerve pathway moving them 2-3 inches from very hour or so.
I did this for the past week in addition to applying them sid-by-side.
I can’t at this point report any significant improvement directly attributed to the A9.
My physician recently prescribed prednisone/gabapentin and since I started taking the meds, have gotten some relief.
My suspicion is the inflammatory neuropathy I have going on is perhaps too much for the unit to turn around in a short period.
I intend to keep treating and will report again in a couple of weeks.
Best to all.
Hey Beautim,
Sorry to hear the PEMF hasn’t helped out, at this point. Bob often talks about the importance of trying a lower power setting, if you’re experiencing negative symptoms. I experience these at times with PEMF, and typically selecting a lower setting does the trick. Also, I just checked google, and the sciatic nerve branches out from L4-S3. So it might be worth trying placing the coils in a side-by-side configuration a little higher (at L4) or lower (over the sacral nerve roots). Hopefully that helps!
So, the “if a little’s good, a lot ought to be better” approach ma6 not apply?
Good to know. I’ll give that a try.
Yes, it’s definitely true that “more is better” often does not apply to PEMF, at least in terms of the power settings. Many peeps find that higher settings cause irritation. I definitely do.
my friend has been using for sciatica all along the nerve and has tried consistently for 12hrs at a time easily for the last 2 weeks. I’m starting to wonder if this can’t help sciatica as much as hoped for. he has also tried stacked and side by side with varying power levels with no benefit.
on a separate note he had hurt his wrist somehow putting together a bike for his son… after an hour or so of pemf, his wrist was much better.