Introduction - Compex Sport Elite 2.0 Manual

BENEFITS OF ELECTROMUSCULAR STIMULATION (EMS)
Electrostimulation is a very effective way to make your muscles work:
• with significant improvement of different muscular qualities
• without cardio-vascular or mental fatigue
• with limited stress on the joints and tendons. Electrostimulation thus allows a
greater quantity of work by the muscles compared with voluntary activity.
To be effective, this work must involve the greatest possible number of muscular
fibers. The number of fibers working depends on the stimulation energy. The
maximum tolerable energy should therefore be used. The user controls this aspect
of stimulation. The higher the stimulation energy, the greater the number of
muscular fibers that are working and, therefore, the more significant the progress
achieved. To maximize results, DJO, LLC recommends that you complement your
electrostimulation sessions with other efforts, such as:
• regular exercise
• proper and healthy nutrition
TRANSCUTANEOUS ELECTRICAL NERVE STIMULATION (TENS)
Pain, whether chronic (long-term) or acute (short-term), can be relieved through
a variety of methods, including drugs, topical ointments, surgery, and electrical
stimulation. TENS devices deliver electrical pulses through the skin to the cutaneous
(surface) and afferent (deep) nerves to control pain. Unlike drugs and topical
ointments, TENS does not have any systemic side effects.
HOW DOES TENS CONTROL PAIN
TENS provides pain relief in two ways. One is the gate control mechanism. When the
body is injured, both pain and non-pain impulses are sent to the brain from the nervous
system. These pulses travel through nerves in your skin to deeper nerves, and then to the
spinal cord and brain. Along the path are many areas referred to as "gates". These gates
determine which impulses are allowed to continue to the brain. The gates prevent the
brain from receiving too much information too quickly.
Since the same nerve cannot carry a pain and a non-pain impulse at the same time, the
stronger, non-pain impulse from the TENS device "controls the gate".
The other mechanism of pain control is endorphin release. The TENS device can trigger
the body's natural pain killers, called endorphins. These chemicals interact with receptors,
blocking the perception of pain. This is similar to the way the pharmaceutical drug,
morphine works, but without morphine's side effects.

INTRODUCTION

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