Hey guys so I’ve been doing TR plans for about 1/2 of a year and I love them so far. Love chads knowledge and the podcasts awesome content. Was wondering if anyone has had any benefits from using any on the neuromuscular electric stimulators for use of just simply recovery to get faster. I’ve dove deep in some research studies but the studies aren’t their yet on modern athletes/high volume. Any input helps thanks guys. I know tens is used for rehab after injury but I was just going to start to use one to speed up recovery.
TENS and NMES are 2 different things. I have a TENS unit that I use sometimes for back pain. It only provides a sensory tingling sensation to distract from the pain. It will not cause the muscles to contract and provides no real recovery benefit.
The NMES units are entirely different. They actually cause the muscles to contract and have purported benefits for post exercise recovery. I say “purported” because the evidence is anecdotal at this point. Some folks swear by them. Others report no real benefit. If you are going to try it, make sure you are getting NMES and not a TENS unit. Best wishes.
Hey thank you so much for the response and input, so I ended up getting a tens unit from amazon and it has 10 levels and this one for sure has my muscles contracting. I had it only in level 2 and it was as much as I could take for 20-30 minutes.
Tens is for pain, cutaneous skin stimulation, to block pain that is carried by
slower fibers, the gate theory hypothesis. NMES, my opinion will not speed recovery. Foam roller, proper nutrition, stretching, are common strategies.
I believe the most important is adequate rest after hard efforts.
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Matt, I was scrolling through my replies, and wanted to give you some feedback. The way you use a Tens unit is to cause a tingling sensation. You do not want it to cause a muscle contraction. It is working on the gate theory that the fibers that are being stimulating by the tingling sensation are conducted to the spinal cord faster than the pain fibers, closing the gate to the slower conducted pain fibers. Turn the intensity down, so you get a comfortable tingling sensation, without any muscle contraction.
Isn’t it all under 10hz so the difference would be minute ?
Matt,
I am not an expert in this matter, but Tens units can be operated at different frequencies.
Low frequency 3-5 per second and at intensity of 3-5 times perception threshold has an acupuncture like effect.
Tens can also be used at high frequency 100 stimuli per second at 2-3 times perception threshold.
I believe what frequency you choose, and intensity is trial basis what works best for you. Tens stimulation should not cause muscle contraction. I hope this is helpful, for further clarification if needed you could consult with a PT.
Cliff
Thank you very much for your help.