Flux Health Forum

Ongoing log of wife's treatment of tendinosis

CRPS
#21

very rarely. The solution involves using different coil placement. See my response to you 2 days ago, reposted here:

It might be more effective to use a different coil configuration:
1- coils side-by-side across the spine
2- Coils stacked bumpy side-to-bumpy side (taped together) directly over the point of greatest pain

If the quad coil array does not provide significant relief, you should consider trying these.

Also, ICES-PEMF results in a reduction of swelling, which redistributes mechanical loading on joints (including the spine) which may be experienced as an initial phase of discomfort. Using one of the coil configurations I specify above and LOW intensity is the strategy most likely to have good results. You may also simply need to stay with LOW intensity since she seems to be very responsive to PEMF, and therefore the intensity should be kept low.

But if discomfort intensifies or continues for more than 4 to 5 days, then this may be one of the rare cases where PEMF is not helpful.

#22

Thanks Bob.
I stopped ICES for now because her back got so suddenly worse so fast over 2 days. She’s going to need a 6 day methylprednisolone pack. Ironically the only thing that makes her back better is massage (I’m a fairly experienced masseuse). I’m scared to use the A9 on her now. On a brighter note, her feet are doing better, however it’s because I increased treatment times with the laser. Her back pain is preventing me from treating her feet either with the A9 or C5.

#23

I’m curious… I’ve seen comments in forums about people being sensitive to wifi, cell phone and other various emf type sources. have you found that she’s sensitive to such devices as well? have you tried turning off sources and even using an insulated “space blanket” (those mylar or aluminum shielded blankets)?

wondering if she’s in one of those situations where she’s very sensitive to emf where a specific pemf source tips her over.

I’ve always seen claims about sensitivity to emf and wondered if that sensitivity could be confirmed by testing exposure

#24

Sorry, just saw this. Yes, she is highly sensitive to emf. Had to return an iPhone because it gave her headaches because iPhones have the highest emf levels of all phones. Got her a Samsung Note which is much lower and headaches went away. Had to return a large PEMF mat (not ICES) because the emf made her very uncomfortable.

#25

UPDATE on wife’s C5 treatment:
Despite trying both C5 and A9 sets at various power levels, I had to discontinue treating her as her feet would start to hurt after 2-3 days consecutive use of 2 hours/day with no discernible improvement. Very frustrating, as I was hoping the C5 with the large mat array would be helpful. The only thing now that appears to be helping slightly is the cold laser.

#26

On the flip side, the A9 absolutely cured my plantar and also greatly helps my shoulder rotator cuff pain.

#27

The was individuals respond, and their individual sensitivity, can be really different. There really is no “one size fits all” for PEMF.

#28

Update: Going to restart using the C5 on my wife’s feet but this time with a very low power setting of 4, starting with 1 hour/day. It seemed like anything more than that, time or power, and her feet were achy the next day.
Unrelated, but so far the thing that has worked best on relieving her pain is twice daily foot massage with Traumaplant Comfrey cream. I have stopped using laser on her as it seems to do nothing or possibly increases pain. Very frustrating.

#29

Question for Bob:
The 16 coil mat placed underneath my wife’s feet wasn’t doing anything as her tendinosis is in the metatarsals on top of her feet. So, I’m going to use the C5 and take approx 7 coils and attach them (either with velcro or hand stitch them) to the outside of a sock/booty or maybe a neoprene boot in the exact positions where her feet hurt.

  1. Will the thickness of the nylon/cotton or neoprene interfere with PEMF penetration? (Maybe just bump up the power a little?)
  2. With this arrangement, there will be coils next to each other as well as across or perpendicular to each other. Is this a problem?

I’m determined to make this work and I have a feeling (hope) this may attack her tendinosis more directly, as well as treat all the painful spots simultaneously and more effectively. Thanks.

#30

The nylon/cotton will not pose a problem, just keep it as thin as you reasonably can to get the coils as close to the skin as possible.

It might help to use coil pairs instead of a pad. You will get MUCH more effective penetration if you use a single pair of stacked coils (bumpy-side-to-bumpy-side, taped together). Place directly over the point of pain, or over the center of the pain if it is a larger area.

Even better, consider try placing coils on opposite sides (top and bottom of the foot), with bumpy side of each coil away from the skin.

If you decide to try either (or both) of those, keep at it every day for at least 2-3 weeks, 6-8 hours per day. Then let us know how it worked for her.

The key thing is not to try to treat every spot simultaneously. Choose the most painful or original spot where the pain first appeared. If you treat this thoroughly, pain in other locations tends to be reduced.

The theory behind this is that the original injury acts as a pro-inflammatroy signal “beacon” that causes inflammation in other locations secondarily, and if you can quench the signal from this original pro-inflammatory source, you benefit because this signal is no longer driving pathologic inflammation throughout the body and causing problems elsewhere.

One thing to watch out for is that when you employ this strategy, when the original source of pain is reduced, all of a sudden then all other locations of lesser pain feel much worse (more pain). This is a sensory illusion, explained by the theory of lateral inhibition of sensory neurons in the cortex. Briefly, your brain tends to focus on the one largest pain signal, and it does so by dialing down adjacent pain signals. So, when the main signal is reduced, the other pain signals get dialed back up and you get the illusion of more pain.

Sometimes people will tend to panic, thinking “oh my god, now its worse all over, what have I done!!!???” Then they either quit abruptly or they try to chase around the many different points of pain throughout their body with coils. The many of them demand that I build a whole-body machine.

But that is not the most effective strategy, and the sensory illusion of “more pain” is temporary. The best strategy is to understand this illusion, and just keep treating the original source of pain until it is completely recovered and the cortex has had a chance to re-equilibrate to sense the pain signals correctly. If you stick to this strategy, the effect (about 90% of the time) is that first the main source of pain and inflammation will subside, then many or all other locations of pain will also tend to fade away.

#31

Thanks Bob for the detailed description! The wrinkle here is that there was no “one” injury spot. This is a generalized tendon degeneration syndrome in most of the foot originally caused by Reflex Sympathetic Distrophy which led to tendinosis throughout the feet and ankles. So it’s almost everywhere, altho there are parts that hurt more than others. The spot that hurts the most is on top of the right foot at the head of the 2nd and 3rd metatarsals. I had been putting 2 A9 coils side by side over all or most of the metatarsals at low power for about 3-4 hours a day with no discernible improvement. I had briefly tried raising the power but that increased the pain (she is EMF sensitive–cell phones against the ear gave her headaches). So maybe a stacked double over just the 2nd and 3rd metatarsals at low power will be better?

#32

that is what I am thinking. Give that a try.

#33

Doing the 2 stacked coils with an A9 as you suggested; may be seeing some results but not sure as she is also getting laser, DMSO and comfrey. That said, I’m going to go ahead with making a 5-7 coil “boot” to cover her entire foot using a C5 since her tendinosis effects her entire foot.

#34

Update: was not seeing any improvement from the A9 with stacked coils but can only do 2-3 hours/day. Also probably because tendinosis effects almost the entire foot and the stacked coils only hit 1 small spot consistently.
Bob: I want to go ahead with making a coil “boot” to treat the entire foot at once. This would consist of 4 coils: #1 and #2 on each side of her ankle/lower achille’s tendon (see image, #2 obscured), #3 on the side of her foot and #4 over the metatarsal head.
Questions:

  1. Can I use the C5 if I’m only using 2 of the output jacks for 4 coils (2 pairs)?
  2. Will #3 and #4 be effective if there are no coils directly opposite them on the other side of the foot (like a coil sandwich)?
    Thanks!
    COIL PLACEMENT
    COIL PLACEMENT1035×771 178 KB
#35

i know you didn’t ask me, but if you have it, start experimenting. maybe Bob could describe how the magnetic field works (i understand it’s wider when coils are contiguous (touching). while not direct sandwich there is some interaction being across/adjacent from each other.

it’s been my experience that the exposure alone in a wider area works the same in dropping inflammation for the area I’m applying coils (similar to what you described).

I’ve done it this way with 2 a9s for achiness pain in my foot from long runs

#36

The short answers are: #1 YES, and #2 Maybe. For #2, it could work, but people respond differently to the directionality of the magnetic field vectors, which is what you are controlling by coil placement, and different tissues as well as different injuries will respond differently. Which means you’ll need to experiment a bit with coil placement, so you might try placing the coils in a snug-fitting sock and moving them around every few days, trying stacked versus opposite side placement, and take note of what works best before you commit to a more permanent “boot” design.

If there is any way to apply this while sleeping, you would get much better effects from longer treatment duration IMO.

My solution, which works great for me, is to put a row of side-by-side coils from a C5, to form a 2 x 4 coil array, taped together, then placed as a mat under my bed sheet at the level of my feet. Whenever I think of it, I just slide my foot over this array of coils while I am drifting off to sleep or watching TV. I just leave it set up that way because I use it every night. It does not result in guaranteed continual all-night exposure to PEMF for my feet, but it sure is enough to work for me, it is extremely convenient, and easy to use every night.

#37

Hi Bob. Thanks for the feedback.

  1. Can’t do the mat while she’s sleeping because she’s constantly rolling and her feet are too sensitive to protrusions and will get tangled in wires.
  2. I’m actually using a thick sock and glued velcro patches to it and the coils, so moving them will be easy.
  3. For positions #3 and #4, should coil ridges be up or down (facing foot)? Thanks!
#38

Actually, I just re-watched your youtube vid and the bumps should face up away from the skin. Just hope the #3 and #4 coils give enough radiation since they’re not side by side.

#39

Thanks for the info.

#40

So I glued velcro to sock and 4 coils in config shown above. Now able to treat wife’s entire foot for 10 hours/day using 2 A9s. Started 4 days ago. Now we’ll see…