Back muscle strengthening with a 4-channel muscle stimulator

In this article I show how to strengthen your spinal-supporting muscles. To keep the treatment time reasonable, use a 4-channel muscle stimulator device. With this, the daily treatment time will be 30–40 minutes. If you have a 2-channel device, you will need at least twice as much time because with that you can treat only the neck-upper back area at once, then you must separately treat the back-lumbar section!

Important!

It's important to understand the following:

1. Muscle strengthening is most effectively achieved through exercise.
2. If your condition is severe — for example, you are so weak that you cannot perform exercises or your pain prevents movement — then muscle stimulation is the only method that can help improve your muscles and regain strength.
3. If you are able to move independently, the muscle stimulator is intended to complement and make exercise more effective, significantly shortening your recovery time.
4. For regaining strength, physiotherapy (rehabilitation exercises) and progressively increasing movement are primary. A physiotherapist, movement therapist, or a medical-fitness trainer can teach you exercises appropriate for your current condition and then you can perform them on your own anytime.
5. Strengthening muscles doesn't happen in a day (neither with exercises nor with a device). You shouldn't expect meaningful change from a single treatment, at best you may get muscle soreness.
6. Whether using exercises or muscle stimulation, gradual progression is important.
   In the first week you must accustom your muscles to contractions (use a current intensity of about 18–28 mA), from the second week you will receive increasingly frequent and stronger treatments (set a higher intensity around 24–36 mA), and after that the strengthening phase begins (use as high an intensity as you can tolerate without causing pain).
7. You can expect the first signs of improving muscle condition after two to three weeks — by then you will feel your muscles supporting you better and you will feel better. But you are not yet "done."
8. After the second month, perform progressively stronger and more intense exercises.
9. After the third month, exercise (i.e., physical activity) should be the primary focus and I recommend continuing stimulation only as a supplement.
10. If you reach improvement, do not stop! Without exercise or stimulation, the gained muscle strength will decrease again within a few weeks. Regular physical activity is required to maintain strength.

Devices for back muscle strengthening

You will need a muscle stimulator device. Choose from the following:

MyoBravo, Premium 400, Genesy 300 Pro, Cycling Pro, Runner Pro, Triathlon Pro, Soccer Pro, The Champion

Built-in back muscle strengthening programs: Runner Pro 4-channel muscle stimulator

With instructional videos from basics to advanced treatments, presented simply.

 

Buy it here →

 

Preparations

• Take out your device, plus 4 cables and 8 self-adhesive electrodes (TENS pads)!
• I recommend square electrodes sized 5×5 cm (the size may vary by a few millimetres) – The ValueTrode and ValueTrode X, the UltraStim and PALS electrodes are all suitable.
• One end of the cables splits into pins ending in small metal tips. You must connect one self-adhesive TENS electrode to each of these.
• Connect the other ends of the cables to the device.
• The cables may be different colours. It doesn't matter which colour cable you plug into which socket on the device. The colours are just to help you identify the cable ends easily.

Electrode positions

• For back muscle strengthening treatments, remove the self-adhesive electrodes from their plastic backing and stick them onto the skin.
• I recommend washing the treatment area with warm soapy water before the session and drying it thoroughly.
• Oily, sweaty or dusty skin reduces the adhesive layer of the electrode, and you will only be able to use the same electrode for a short time.
• Place the electrodes about 3–4 cm lateral to the spinous processes (the vertebrae), on the sides. Ask a relative to help you.
• Stick the two electrodes that connect to Output 1 one above the other as shown in the illustration. One goes near the neck, the other between the shoulder blades.
• Then stick the electrodes for Outputs 2–3–4 in sequence according to the diagram.
• Never cross-connect electrode pairs!

Training plan for back muscle strengthening

Once the electrodes are attached, turn on the device and select the treatment program from the menu.

If you have a Premium 400, Cycling Pro, Runner Pro, Triathlon Pro, Soccer Pro or The Champion device, look for the program according to the table below.

The treatment programs are found under Program list / Sport group.

On the Genesy 300 Pro device there is no separate program named “Stiffness relief,” so use the Sport / Warm-up program instead.

If you have a MyoBravo device, program numbers are used instead of program names. See the user manual for details.

• Stiffness relief = Program 23,
• Endurance strength week 1 = Program 02,
• Endurance strength from week 2 = Program 03,
• Max. strength weeks 1–3 = Program 08,
• Max. strength from week 3 = Program 09.

Setting intensity

• When you start the treatment program, you will initially feel nothing. At this point no treatment occurs.
• To get any effect you must increase the current intensity.
  Everyone perceives the current differently and reacts differently. You will even feel it differently on different days. That is why the device does not set a value automatically. You must find the right value yourself.
• Increase the intensity slowly. Each button press increases the intensity by 1 mA.
• Soon you will feel muscle twitching. These are not strong enough yet, so you should increase the intensity further.
• The higher the intensity, the stronger the contraction you will experience and the greater the effect.
• Above a certain (individual) value the treatment becomes painful. At that point reduce the intensity by a few mA!
• During the treatment you should feel distinct contractions, but this should not be painful.
• Stimulate at the upper level of your comfort zone. Generally the appropriate range is between 18–40 mA.
• With 5×5 cm electrodes the maximum intensity should not exceed 50 mA.
• If you do not provide enough intensity there will be no contractions and therefore no effect.

Finishing

• When the treatment time elapses, the program ends.
• Turn off the device.
• Carefully remove the electrodes from your skin one by one (do not pull on the cable) and immediately place them back on the plastic backing.
• Some people have reported that storing electrodes in a normal refrigerator prolongs the adhesive life. I'll leave that up to you!