TES is the stim that you use at night. What it does is
bring circulation to the arm (blood and growth hormones that are released at night) and lets the brain know all night long that there's an arm. All good. It's purpose is to regrow atrophied muscle. It does not cause a muscle contraction.
Once you have muscle growth and there is less atrophy and more normal muscle fibers, then you can use regular stimulation (NMES).
NMES will cause the muscle to contract - it's like giving the muscle an aerobic program to follow. But if you did this aerobic program on atrophied muscles you might blow the muscles. There needs to be enough regular muscle fiber for the NMES to have something to work with.
The sEMG stim unit that Dr. Pape sells is not a replacement for TES but the next step. It is a replacement for the regular NMES unit. The sEMG stim unit (myotrak) works with the individual's current function. You do a movement and machine senses when your movement has come to the end of its potential, then the stim turns on and completes the movement. It teaches your brain what the end result should be and helps the muscles get there.
The other Myotrak unit that Amy is talking about is just BIOFEEDBACK. And this is also an excellent tool that will tell you what muscle is working at any particular time. But that's all it does. It doesn't stimulate anything - it just reports back to you on what works and what doesn't. But what's really great about this unit is that it helps you
isolate muscles so that you can work on the correct muscles rather than the compensatory muscles. We have this unit as well and it has shown us that Maia has a co-contracture between deltoids and biceps - quite interesting for us to learn.
So the biofeedback unit helps
identify what muscles are doing what and helps you
isolate muscles so that you can strengthen them individually. And the sEMG stim unit does that AND
stims the isolated muscle.
So there are 4 units I just basically discussed
(1) TES, nighttime stimulation, for circulation & sensory - this unit feels like an on and off fluttering
(2) NMES, daytime, stimulation, for muscle strengthening - depending on what unit you purchase this will feel like a deeper buzz and it could "sting" more or less
(3) biofeedback (myotrak), to identify which muscles are working so that you can isolate them in your workouts - you feel nothing with this machine
(4) sEMG stim, same as biofeedback with the additional stimulation - you get to stimulate the muscles that have been isolated - you feel a very smooth buzz with this machine, not sting-y
TES and sEMG stim is purchased with tascnetwork.
Their site is
http://www.tascnetwork.net and there's an 800 number there, too. Sometimes it takes a while for her to get back to you - I think they travel - do courses, symposiums all over.
NMES and Biofeedback can be purchased on line at many different suppliers - just google them.
Which one should you use? Well if you're asking this question I'm thinking that you don't have a lot of professional support to help you with this. You need to work with a therapist who is experienced and will understand what you need to do... someone who can teach you what to do, someone who understands what muscles need to be worked on and why - there needs to be a plan in place. I've listened to Dr. Pape's lectures multiple times and one thing that she always says is that it's important to do the right thing at the right time in the right way. If and when you contact tascnetwork - have them give you a list of therapists who are trained and experienced.
-francine
francine@litzfamily.com