One of the tasks modern medicine has been struggling with is pain management. A lot of the patients currently struggling with persistent pain are not receiving adequate treatment. Most of the modalities for pain management are reliant on painkillers. Although they are often effective, they can also be dangerous due to the risk of addiction and the wide variety of side effects.
This article explores another option for pain management using a pulsed electromagnetic frequency therapy. A lot of studies have been conducted regarding PEMF therapy and pain management. So far, the results have determined PEMF is a safe and effective way to improve the quality of life for the patients by alleviating their pain.
This article looks at these studies as well as the uses of PEMF for pain.
Types of Pain
The definition of pain is an unpleasant physical sensation resulting from an injury or an illness. Even though the concept is difficult to understand, pain is actually good for people. Pain enables the body to communicate there is something wrong and action is necessary to fix what has been damaged or is not working properly.
Despite this, pain is hard to cope with and can be uncomfortable. People experience pain through their nerve fibers. Signals are then sent to the brain for interpretation. This means pain treatment may be targeted directly to the nerves as well as the way the brain reads into the pain.
The two types of pain are chronic or long-term and acute or short-term. The acute pain only lasts for a short period of time. This is the body's way of alerting the person of an injury. To make the pain go away, the underlying cause must be resolved. Chronic pain lasts for a long time. It is often impossible to completely resolve. This can be caused by a chronic disease such as migraines or arthritis.
Causes of Pain and Main Indicators
The special nerves in the body are referred to as nociceptors. The body feels pain when signals are sent to the brain by these nerves to indicate the existence of pain. Once this occurs, the brain decides what to do by interpreting the signals. When something hot is touched, the muscles respond by immediately flexing.
This is how the brain protects the body. Dopamine is sometimes released by the brain to counter the unpleasant feelings caused by pain. This is the reason certain individuals actually enjoy specific kinds of pain. The only way to diagnose pain is with the information the individual shares with their physician. There are certain signs that show an individual is experiencing pain.
These include:
- Crying
- Grimacing
- Moaning and Groaning
- Restlessness
- Reduced social interactions
- Resisting care
- Problems sleeping
Pain Management Practices
Due to the numerous types of pain, there many different treatments currently available. Medication is usually used to treat acute pain. A lot of people are reluctant to use medication due to the side effects. They often use effective alternatives instead of painkillers.
The most popular alternatives are:
- Acupuncture
- Biofeedback
- Heat and cold
- Surgery
- Nerve blocks
- Relaxation techniques
- Psychotherapy
Another completely safe and extremely efficient method for treating pain is consistently increasing in popularity. This is called PEMF therapy.
Numerous studies have supported PEMF therapy due to the benefits of managing different kinds of pain including both chronic and acute.
PEMF Therapy and Pain Management
There is no doubt PEMF therapy has earned a place in pain management. This substitute is effective for replacing harmful painkillers that are often responsible for more bad than good as time passes. There are a lot of side effects caused by painkillers. They are also unsuitable for both the elderly and children. PEMF therapy is non-invasive, completely safe and can be used by individuals of all ages for all health issues.
One of the most popular uses for PEMF is pain management. Despite this, many people spend a lot of time looking for a solution and exhausting the other options prior to using PEMF. Some research has compared the effectiveness of PEMF for pain management with ten mg of morphine. PEMF is exceptionally effective for treating chronic pain.
Chronic pain occurs when the tiny networks of nerves are inflamed for a long period of time. This inflammation is cured by PEMF stimulation to help the nerves recover. In this type of case, high-intensity PEMF stimulation is extremely beneficial.
The Los Angeles, California International Pain Research Institute completed a study in 1994. Wallach C, Jorgensen WA, and Frome BM were the chief scientists of the study. The study delved into the possibility of pelvic pain caused by tissue trauma being treated with PEMF therapy.
The scientists reported a minimum amplitude of PEMF stimulation for short periods was effective for long-lasting pelvic pain relief. The electrochemical process of electroporation was initiated by the simulation using a focal area of 25cm2. The report showed the treatments were fast acting, short, economical and made surgery redundant.
The cases the report described included conditions such as acute urinary tract infections, postoperative hematoma, ruptured ovarian cysts, dysmenorrhea, and endometriosis. The PEMF therapy for most cases was not supplemented using painkillers. The study included eighteen female individuals with a total of twenty instances of pelvic pain. These twenty episodes included two instances of both chronic and acute pain, seven chronic and eleven acute.
Of the eighteen instances of pelvic pain reported by the sixteen patients, PEMF stimulation resulted in drastic and significant relief. There were two patients who had reported two pain episodes who did not have complete pain relief after the PEMF stimulation.
Conclusion
This study showed PEMF therapy was successful in alleviating both chronic and acute pelvic pain in approximately ninety percent of the cases. This pain was caused by numerous gynecological health conditions. This shows PEMF is an effective way to handle pain caused by different origins.
Even though this particular study focused on female patients experiencing pelvic pain, PEMF therapy can be used for many other circumstances. This has been demonstrated through numerous public studies.