EIMS and muscle or tendon strains

I have started working with Dr Nikolay Yelizarov as of July 2010. Dr Yelizarov is a Russian trained doctor who has received his Masters of Human Kinetics from U.B.C. He is also a registered acupuncturist and a member of the Canadian Academy of Sport Medicine.

In our clinic Dr. Yelizarov uses a form of acupuncture he calls EIMS. In it he uses acupuncture needles which deliver a charge via electrical device. This stimulates the muscle unit to help reduce pain and promote healing.

I have asked Dr. Yelizarov to write a quick piece on what EIMS is. 

Feel free to post any questions or comments,

Mike Reoch

What is EIMS?     

           
Electrical IntraMuscular Stimulation is a technique designed electively for the treatment of muscles and tendons. Most muscle or tendon strains are a result of acute or chronic overuse. An acute overuse injury is usually referred as a “muscle pull”. Usually these pulls are left to heal over time or with the help from an anti inflammatory drug. With chronic overuse muscles can have repeated, micro, “muscle pulls”. These micro-tears are usually unnoticeable but can result in the changing in muscle features. Increased muscle stiffness, reduced flexibility reduced strength, decreased performance, even tissue fibrosis are examples of such changes. EIMS is aimed not only to eliminate the associated pain but to restore the affected strength and flexibility to ensure long term improvement.
A frequent question from patients is: “I have pain but it seems more nerve related than muscle”. A muscle unit is composed of myofibrils, blood vessels, connective tissues and nerve or pain receptors. Every muscle pain has a neurologic component. A swelling of a strained muscle causes pinching of the nerve and creates pain. A group of strained muscles may pinch a nerve of a larger size and can create neuralgic pain. So when we are talking about pain it is better to understand what the causing is rather than its label. EIMS is a fast and efficient way for treating overused muscles. If you are uncertain if EIMS can help you we can perform a functional assessment and take an infrared thermography picture to assess your pain.
About 70-80% of visits to the family doctor are pain related. The diagnosis may be: back pain, migraine, headache, whiplash, osteoarthritis, or tendinitis. Even a diagnosis of connective tissue like plantar fasciitis or carpal tunnel syndrome has muscular involvement. The pain will be eliminated or at least significantly less after an  EIMS  treatment of the involved tissue(s).

 As promised, here is the other article from Jason Silvernail that I lifted from Diane Jacobs page. Jason and Diane are both fascinating PTs who work with movement and touch to decrease pain. Diane has been in practice for over 40 years and used to have a practice here in Vancouver. Both are regular contributors to soma simple.
Remember: Think of your movement as a medical prescription that you have to take at certain times and at specific doses each day.

Mike Reoch

~ The three stages of 
recovery from pain ~

Practicing Corrective Movement

By Jason Silvernail PT

Publish Post

The body is a wonderfully self-corrective machine. When you know more about how your body works, you can learn to treat your pain naturally through movement.

The 3 Stages of Recovery from Pain

Ever stubbed your toe? Bumped your funny bone? Twisted your ankle? If so, then you know all about the stages of recovery from pain. Read along, and keep your last injury in mind for comparison.

When you experience pain, your nervous system goes through three separate stages. You move through these stages every time you have pain, without exception, as long as you are alive. These stages are:

1. Withdrawal
2. Protection
3. Resolution

Let’s look at them a little closer and see how each of them are different but necessary for recovery:

Withdrawal is your nervous system’s way of removing itself from the painful stimulus, to reduce any damage it might sustain. Ever stub your toe? Then you know all about withdrawal – you moved your foot back away from whatever you bumped into, and pretty quickly, too! This is the first stage of response, and it is instinctive – it happens without your conscious awareness.

Protection is your nervous system’s way to try to ensure no further painful stimulation occurs. When you stubbed your toe, you grabbed and held it with your hands. That’s your system’s natural protective response, and it is instinctive – it happens without your conscious awareness.

Resolution is your nervous system’s way to restore normal mobility and function to the injured part. Resolution restores the blood flow to the injured tissues so healing can take place. When you stubbed your toe, and you moved it back and forth to help recover, it’s just instinctive – it happens without your conscious awareness.

Most people who have a persistent pain problem are stuck in the protection phase – their system is still trying to protect itself, and it’s not able to move toward resolving the problem. When you’re stuck in the protection phase you may feel stiffness, coldness, and muscle spasm in the area. You may feel as if the body part does not want to move smoothly.

Practicing corrective movement helps you move out of Protection and toward Resolution, and you are doing the corrective movement properly you might feel warmth, a softening, and a relaxing feeling as blood returns to the irritated tissues. Remember, this is instinctive movement – you can’t think about doing it, you have to let your body do it without your conscious involvement. Breathe deeply and let the movement happen – your nervous system knows what to do, just let it happen.

Remember the characteristics of corrective movement: warmth, softening, surprising and effortless movement.


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© Thank you to Jason Silvernail PT


for further reading check out:


Explain Pain
Somatics: Reawakening The Mind's Control Of Movement, Flexibility, And Health

I have had quite a few patients this month who have been stuck in a painful protective patterns. In my search to find a new approach for self correction I came across some of Jason Silvermails articles. I'll post the other one tomorrow. have a read and tell me what you think.

-Mike Reoch

~ Watering the Grass ~ 
Practicing Corrective Movement
by Major Jason Silvernail U.S. Army

The body is a wonderfully self-corrective machine. When you know more about how your body works,
you can learn to treat your pain naturally through movement.

Watering the Grass

Understanding how to help your nerve tissue to heal is a lot like watering your lawn.  It’s not a question of waiting for enough time for healing; it’s a question of providing the right  environment.

Let’s say you have some grass that has started to turn brown from lack of water.  In order to help it grow back, you have to water it a little bit every day, and it slowly comes back to being healthy and green on its own. How quickly this happens depends on a lot of factors we can’t control, so it’s important to take things day by day and focus on what we can control – how much you walk on your grass, and how much you water it. You know that if you regularly water your grass and stay off of it while it’s growing, it will come back – it’s only a matter of time.

To get your grass to grow back, you first need to stop walking on it while it’s growing.

Depending on how brown it is, you may want to walk on it just a little, or not at all. If you have a volleyball game on it, you can be sure that will REALLY slow down the process. Your nerve tissue is the same way. As it heals, you can load it with exercise, activity, or prolonged postures more successfully. But early in this process, you need to minimize aggravating activities and prolonged positions, in order to maximize your healing. You will notice slowly that you can tolerate more activity and a longer time in different postures, but this ability is a direct result of how often you are doing the movement therapy to “dose” the tissue with blood. If you keep it up over time, soon you’ll be able to have that volleyball game on the grass after all.

To get your grass to grow back, you also need to water it, that’s how it gets its nourishment. Your nerve tissue is like that, too – only instead of water, it needs a regular blood supply to heal. Doing the movement therapy you’ve been practicing is how you both supply the tissue with blood and reduce the mechanical strain on the tissue. You will get better as a direct result of the frequency that you do this. Now, if your grass is brown and dying, you don’t want to just dump a lot of water on it the first day – that will just get you a lot of mud. You need to start slowly and work yourself up. Some increased pain is expected after you start to do the movement therapy properly. This will go away with continued movement and activity. 

Remember, in order to grow back, your grass needs rest and regular watering. The same is true of your nerve tissue. As long as you are providing it both of those things, you will get  better in time. It’s impossible to predict exactly WHEN, but if you are doing both these things, it’s simply a matter of time:

RULES FOR REGROWING GRASS
1. Don’t walk on the grass while it’s growing
2. Water it slowly and regularly every day


RULES FOR HEALING NERVE TISSUE
 
1. Don’t do things that aggravate the problem until it’s ready
2. Do the movement therapy to supply it with blood slowly and regularly every day

trunk rotations for decreased neck mobility

The Fuzz

Remember to move!

We function on word of mouth. Do you know someone who needs massage therapy in Richmond? Do you have a friend in pain? check us out at Richmond Muscle Tendon Clinic