Having a tad bit of trouble getting my qaud to fire several weeks after having knee surgery. My PT suggested russian e-stim and said it’s not too comfortable, but really works. I saw some videos on Youtube and frankly it kinda scared me off. I was curious to who has tried the e-stim and or russian version. My PT said I could get a take home unit as well which I think would be a good idea since it’s covered by insurance. Would like to hear your experiences. Does E stim hurt? I’ve had Tens and that seemed okay. Sounds like I’m in for a treat 
I’m curious if this will hurt worse than dry needling. ICK
I work in a PT office so I’ve been exposed to a couple different kinds of E-Stim. In my opinion, Russian current is not the most fun thing in the world, but it not uncomfortable. It is definitely weird having your muscle contract without your control, but you quickly get used to it. If you try it and you really don’t like it, your PT can always change your plan of care.
Russian E-stim is similar to a TENS unit, in that they both send a low volt current through your tissue to excite certain nerves. A TENS unit will give you that tingle, pins and needles sensation while Russian will target your muscles. It doesn’t “hurt” but it can be slightly uncomfortable and depending on the setting your PT sets you up for, it can feel as though your muscle is cramping for a brief period. I haven’t had dry needling done so I can’t comment on that, but I’ve set up patients on a variety of E-stim and have been used as a test dummy as an AT student.
I’ve had Russian stim on my back (recovering from a herniated disk). It wasn’t painful – more of just an odd sensation. Feels kind of like your muscles are involuntarily having spasms, but without the pain of actual spasms.
I had several types of treatments during my recovery, but one I went back to often was the stim. I feel like it helped me.
Good luck on the recovery.
Electrical stimulation can be used in several wave forms to produce different desired effects. The Russian Stimulation wave form as your provider suggested using can help with muscle re-education. It is not comfortable as they said but it is not really painful either. Most likely they will have you trying to perform an isometric quad set with the on phase of the treatment so you will be active in the treatment. The muscle contraction will help move swelling which will help limit general overall pain.
When young and stupid in college in our modalities class we did the" STIM OFF"… whole class held hands and the current was run through the entire group as the intensity of the treatment was gradually increased. When you couldn’t take it you broke the chain and stepped out until there were only two people left. lot’s of laughs, nobody died, no eye water shed.
I do research involving Estim. Basically the more intense the contraction (i.e. the higher the forces) the more effective it is for strengthening and the more uncomfortable it will be. People vary widely in how well they tolerate it. I’ve seen people pass out from just the sensation and I’ve seen people who can get near 100% of their volitional max force. It hurts at high intensities but not like a pinching or stinging hurt, I don’t even think it’s the stim that most people find uncomfortable, it’s the non-physiologic muscle contraction.
how many treatments does it normally take before seeing an effect?
how many treatments does it normally take before seeing an effect?
Depends on why you’re weak, due to muscle atrophy or due to loss of voluntary recruitment. If the latter then it can help reestablish voluntary recruitment rather quickly, if due to atrophy it will talk longer.
I think it’s just muscle memory because I can lift the same as I could before the surgery and feel strong. It’s just that my quad doesn’t want to activate when I try to land on my midfoot. fingers crossed!
My cat is having this. She is not too fond of it. Being a cat she does not understand why tbis is happening.
I’m deadly serious - my cat is having this as part of therapy for a torn archilles.
Guess you need to man up:-)