Flux Health Forum

Shoulder issues

Injury Recovery
#1

Hi, I’m dealing with a very sore right shoulder with the following: superspinatus tendinitis with significant calcification, bursitis, ac joint arthritis, labrum tears. From a previous 2014 MRI, the only material change was in the calcification and the Ortho believes that is the majority of my issues.

Can PEMF help to break up the calcification so the body can remove it? I have seen some reports of ultrasound, sickt wave having dinner successs. Along with PT of course.

Any experience with red light / infrared helping calcification? I have those devices as well.

Lastly, any suggestions on M1 coil placement and treatment protocol would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

#2

I don’t think PEMF breaks up calcification directly, but it definitely promotes lowered inflammation and much better tissue healing, and the result for a lot of orthopedic injuries is that they seem to lose some of the scar/deformed tissues as they re-heal properly. But this process takes a long time.

For ICES-PEMF protocols, start with Omni8 on intensity 9 with coils stacked directly over the most painful location, plan to use it 6-8 hours per day every day, and plan to experiment a bit to find out what works best for you.

#3

I have used the A9 (advice of my Functional Med doc) for a major rotator cuff tear, keeping me out of the OR (Orthopedic advice). I have lingering, tolerable discomfort and revert to its use if the pain kicks up, possibly weather related. Grateful for this advice.

#4

This is really great, thanks! It is so much better to be slowly healing rather than getting progressively worse IMHO. In my experience, most of the time if you keep at it persistently with ICES-PEMF, as well as take adequate supplements to facilitate orthopedic tissue recovery, you can have slow but progressive healing of the tissue. The process can take many months, but during that time you can have improving function with much less pain.

#5

Questions:

Is the mechanism of PEMF anything more than increased Nitric Oxide and blood flow - which are of course great -

Approximately how much better on a scale of 1 to 10 is the ICES compared to infrared, for healing mechanisms?

#6

The fundamental biophysical mechanisms of PEMF remain entirely unknown. Beware of anyone who tells you otherwise, demand proof, real proof, not a blog.

From what I can tell, PEMF is much better by itself than IR, but no quantitative scale is available. But together, these two seem to work synergistically.

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#7

I have an inflammatory issue where I can feel the effect of both red, IR and PEMF. Because of the biphasic dose response, I can only use red and IR for a short time, then wait 6 hours and do it again. Yesterday I happened to place the coils in a position that reached the inflammatory area. The effect kept going for as long as the M1 was on.

For me, red and IR work great for certain applications. Especially tired muscles right under the skin. Others I’d rather use PEMF.

#8

That is one of the most interesting things about PEMF in general and energy-related devices like IR: individual responses are highly variable. Most of the fundamental biophysical mechanisms remain unknown, and much of what you read on the Internet is just made-up marketing pulp, but it’s very clear that many of these devices do seem to work and help people anyway.

For example, for me, IR never helped with chronic pain at all. And I really wanted it to, and I really tried hard, but it just did not work. Maybe I am somehow just not physiologically receptive to it, or maybe it works by a fundamental biophysical mechanism that does not address the problem that I’m trying to deal with. Either way my response to IR is not the same as other peoples response. And this is what I see all the time with people when they use PEMF and far infra-red and all other sorts of things like this.

#9

Questions:

Is PEMF or IR usually better for releasing muscle spasm?

Have there ever been a charted trajectory of injured tissue remodeling shown with MRI or CT that gives us insight into the catalyst effect of the square wave PEMF?

Why are we urged to not set the A9 to Max intensity to start with?

What are the reasons why we don’t want to use the coils with the bumps down to the skin surface?

#10

PEMF vs. IR for muscle spasm?: In my experience, PEMF works better for me. Some people disagree. Individual responses vary. People are different.

Catalyst effect of PEMF shown on MRI or CT?: I have run experiments and published images and CT data showing extensive and accelerated bone repair. These experiments were carried out at Texas A&M Vet School:

https://www.josam.org/josam/article/view/27

These experiments contributed significantly to our understanding of the effective pulse waveform and dose-response, but they do not and were not designed to determine a “catalyst effect”, which I take to mean the “underlying biophysical mechanisms”, which, for PEMF, remain unknown, marketing fraud and claims to the contrary notwithstanding.

Why not start with maximum intensity: Many reasons, most notably:
Most people do not respond best to maximum intensity. As we teach our children: too much is too much. Most people (~95%) respond best, as we advise, to intensity settings of “M” or “H”, and some have a less effective response to “X” intensity. Only a small percentage need to use full intensity. And using common sense, it is like an automobile: it is not “best” or “most effective” to drive everywhere at full speed.

In fact, once you have the coils placed properly the number one way to improve the effectiveness of ICES-PEMF is to turn down the intensity if you have been using it at full power without much benefit. At least 90% of people who report that they do not get a positive benefit from full power report that, if they turn down the intensity, their benefit is greater.

Bumps toward or away from skin? This is so that people who do not have a degree in physics can use the device correctly. Magnetism is very counter-intuitive and difficult to understand. I have worked through all of the calculus, done all of the tests, and if you follow my directions then I can assure you that the magnetic fields will be correctly aligned.

So, if you follow my directions (bumps away from the skin) the magnetic pulses will be correctly aligned. If you do not follow my directions, they might be OK, they might not, and it is impossible to say unless what you are trying has been tested extensively and verified.

#11

I believe I have another torn rotator cuff (likely from overuse) - this time my left shoulder. I have some mobility but pain when I side sleep and reach out etc. I need to try DIY healing since I can only schedule with my functional medical doctor 4 months out. I’m looking at buying model M1. I’m wondering what coil configuration and built-in protocol is best to heal this type of injury - any replies would be much appreciated.

#12

I shared my positive experience healing an old rotator cuff injury in previous posts. Here is one where I share what protocol. If you see the many posts I have made, my simple recommendation would be “buy it (A9 or M1), use it 8+ hours a day (preferably 16 or 24), use default settings, and document your progress and share back with the forum.” My recommendation is to not overthink it (as I am prone to do but havel learned the one varaible to really make an effort on is time using it). @Bob’s technology is amazingly helpful in our family’s experience.

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#13

Thank you so very much for the reply. I am going to try the M1 8+ hours/day using double stack B5-C5 default protocol setting.

BTW, in conjunction with the M1 I’m going to see if I can find a local resource for a Frequency Specific Microcurrent (“FSM”) session or two as an adjunct. Also looking at Prolozone.

#14

That is where I think you will see real benefits. PEMF is starting to shine as the best and most versatile adjunct. It really seems to make everything else just work better: nutrition, supplements, exercise, chiropractic, stem cell, LLLT, FSM, even other forms of PEMF.

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