Microcurrent treatment in practice

The trap of painkillers

Is your shoulder stabbing, does your back hurt? Is wrist or knee pain not going away? Are you tormented by tennis elbow?

Doctors usually recommend the same thing: “take a painkiller”! Most advertisements and patient information sites also push this message.

However, painkillers are symptomatic treatments. They relieve pain for a few hours, but since they have no curative effect, they do not eliminate the disease itself. As the drug is metabolized, the pain returns.

Long-term, weeks-long use almost certainly leads to undesirable consequences. Gastrointestinal complaints, excess stomach acid, stomach ulcers, and in severe cases stomach bleeding or damage to white blood cells that impairs the body's defense against disease can all occur. Recent data show that regular use of painkillers quadruples the risk of death from heart disease and stroke.

If a chronic disease causes your pain, instead of symptomatic treatment look for a solution that reduces the need for medication, soothes your pain and also supports the healing of the disease.

MCR, i.e. microcurrent treatment, is exactly such a method!

The electrical impulse increases the cell's ATP, i.e. energy production. For the substances necessary for healing to pass through the cell membrane and for regeneration to begin, energy (ATP) is required. More energy stimulates cellular function, which results in an acceleration of healing and regeneration processes.

Preparations for microcurrent treatment

You cannot use MCR if you have an implanted pacemaker or defibrillator; these are absolute contraindications. Do not use it over the skull, the thyroid, or the heart either. Otherwise you can treat any area of your body with it.

You can read about the general contraindications of electrotherapy here.

Before treatment wash the area you want to treat with lukewarm soapy water. Oily skin reduces adhesion of the electrode pads and worsens signal transmission. On very hairy areas the treatment effect may be reduced because hair prevents the impulse from reaching the skin. Unfortunately there is no other way: you must at least remove hair where the electrodes will be placed.

For the treatment you need a device that provides microcurrent therapy and self-adhesive TENS electrodes (also called electrode pads).

• The microcurrent device is a small-sized device.
• The impulses delivered by the device enter the body and reach nerve endings through the self-adhesive electrodes. More expensive (higher-quality) electrodes transmit impulses into the skin more effectively, resulting in faster and longer-lasting pain relief and less discomfort during treatment.

Warning! Genuine microcurrent treatments are currently provided by only a few devices. Some sellers take advantage of this. Check the smallest adjustable current on the device! If it is 1 milliAmpere (=1000 microAmperes), the device is not microcurrent! For example, the manufacturer iTech tries to sell T-One devices with this trick, but they do not contain effective microcurrent. The effective microcurrent range is between 50–800 microAmperes. Only devices that fall into this range have microcurrent therapeutic effects.

Practical execution of microcurrent treatment

Follow these steps:

• Take out the device and the patient cable(s). For Globus devices you must use the gray cable for microcurrent treatment; microcurrent will not work with the colored cables.
• Globus devices provide microcurrent treatment on two channels (1–3). This is how the cables must be plugged in.
  
  
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• Each cable requires 2 self-adhesive electrodes.
• Sit comfortably in a chair.
• Connect one end of the cable to the device.
• Connect the electrodes to the other end of the cable.
• Peel the electrode off the plastic backing and stick it to your skin.

As a general rule, place the electrodes around the painful area, not directly on the most painful spot.

One electrode is not enough for treatment; at least a pair is required. The electrical impulses "travel" between the electrodes connected to the two ends of the cable.

Electrodes must not touch each other; there should always be at least 2–3 cm between them. Too large a distance is also not good; the maximum distance between two electrodes should be 20 cm.

The manufacturer supplies some diagrams with the devices. These are generally adequate, but you don't have to rigidly adhere to placing the electrodes exactly as shown. Consider your own complaint, because your pain may be a little more forward, backward, higher or lower!

Position the electrode so that the current running between the electrode pair "passes through" the most painful area.

Look for positions in which you feel the treatment is most effective.

Starting the treatment

• Once the electrodes are in place, turn on the device.
• From the menu select the appropriate program and press "OK".
• On Globus electrostimulators you can select the complaint or condition from a list and the device will automatically set the optimal parameters.
  
• Press "OK" on the Start label. A message appears: Set the intensity.
• Press the UP arrow (left side) for channel 1 once and the set current (in microAmperes) will appear on the display and the program runtime clock will start.



• For microcurrent programs press the intensity button only once so the treatment actually starts.
• The device allows the current to be adjusted, but this is a function for knowledgeable users. If you are not familiar with it, do not change the set value, because you can immediately "spoil" the treatment. Although the only harm is that the expected effect may not occur.
• Microcurrent programs operate at current intensities determined by medical experts, so trust them! You do not need to invent another setting.

Most people do not perceive the microcurrent treatment. That's not surprising, because an ampere is a million times larger than the current used here. This is roughly equivalent to the potential across cell membranes. That is why it can affect cellular function.

Each program runs for a defined time recommended by a medical group commissioned by the manufacturer. When the program time expires the treatment stops. For microcurrent treatments you may extend the treatment time, but never shorten it.

Microcurrent treatment activates your body's inflammation-healing processes. To maintain this effect you must repeat treatments. Do not skip days between treatments, because the healing process will be interrupted.

Imagine it like pushing a child on a swing. If you give one push, it will stop after 1–2 swings. To keep it moving you must push it regularly.

Therefore continue microcurrent treatment persistently until healing: at least once daily, but in more severe cases even 3–4 treatments per day. More treatments are better; you cannot harm yourself with them, but don't overdo it.

Possible errors

Globus devices provide microcurrent treatment on 2 channels and require specially shielded cables. Use the gray cables supplied with the device and connect them to outputs 1 and 3 (first and third from the left).

An electrode error message indicates that

• you are not using the gray cable,
• you did not plug the cable into channels 1–3,
• the circuit is not closed, i.e. the cables are not connected to self-adhesive electrodes or the electrodes are not stuck to the skin.

Microcurrent treatment works only with self-adhesive electrodes.

Treatment ineffectiveness can be caused by creams or active gels applied to the skin before treatment. These change the skin's resistance; some creams even insulate, which ruins the treatment!

With microcurrent the current cannot be arbitrarily adjusted – with a few presses you can change the current and the treatment will no longer be microcurrent.

Microcurrent means a current intensity of millionths of an ampere, which most people do not feel – yet it still has an effect.

How long until you see an effect?

This can vary for everyone. It is influenced by age, nutrition, the nature of the complaint, its duration, and the condition. Obviously, an acute sprain may respond faster than hip degeneration that has been present for years. For example, tennis elbow and a muscle strain are completely different — if you have both issues at once you will get different results for each.

The pain-relieving effect of microcurrent treatment may be noticeable even after the first session. Generally, however, it starts after 5–10 sessions and you must continue until the pain completely disappears. If your pain disappears after the first treatment, it does not mean you are cured.

For long-standing complaints it is common that the first treatments cause a marked increase in pain, which leads people to stop in panic.

But do not be frightened. This is a natural phenomenon! It indicates that the treatment had a very good effect. It "washed out" and released from the treated area those toxins produced during the old inflammation that could not leave by themselves. The release of these toxins causes the pain.

Continue treatment! After 3–4 sessions the pain-enhancing effect subsides and only the beneficial effects remain. If your pain is still increased after 4–5 days, stop and consult your doctor, because the treatment may be unsuitable for you due to some other, unseen condition.

Microcurrent treatments for chronic inflammations — for example tennis elbow, rotator cuff inflammation, Achilles tendon inflammation, plantar fasciitis, etc. — produce noticeable effects after about 40–50 sessions. Treat persistently!

Don't be surprised by this long time! Your complaints did not develop in a moment; they may have been bothering you for years. They cannot be eliminated with a snap. Persistent microcurrent treatment, however, helps your body so that healing processes overcome the inflammation and you are freed from the complaint.