Microcurrent therapy side effects

Microcurrent Therapy as a Method of Treatment

One form of physical therapy that is becoming more and more popular and that has been proven to be very effective in the treatment of various conditions is microcurrent therapy. Although it may sound like an alternative treatment, microcurrent therapy is solidly based on science, with applications being investigated all the time.

Since our body’s functioning is partly based on small electrical impulses, this therapy uses extremely small levels of electrical currents when the natural flow and balance of these bio electrical pulses in our body or the normal electrical activity of our body is disrupted. The goal is to restore your electromagnetic field to a healthy state. Most recently, microcurrent therapy has been found to be extremely beneficial for many patients who are suffering from unexplained lower back pain.

When Microcurrent Therapy is Being Used?

The electrical currents in the body may be disrupted for various reasons, but the most common causes are various physical injuries, either in sports or due to accidents, and chronic pain conditions with as yet unidentified underlying causes. This is why this kind of therapy can be used in the treatment of numerous conditions, starting from problems with pain or spasms in muscles, shingles, and neuropathy, all the way to the cases in which it is necessary to help or speed up the healing process or process of soft tissue regeneration after an injury.

Besides this, microcurrent therapy is being used as a promising alternative to facelift procedures in people who wish to look younger as well, though the experiences are different and quite unpredictable, due to the pain that can be felt during this kind of elective medical treatment. Otherwise, when microcurrent therapy is used for non-cosmetic purposes, no pain is felt, because only an extremely small amount of electricity is used during the treatment.

A common intervention for knee pain is medication. Pharmacological treatments including opioids are not especially successful and have significant harmful effects. More research is now being done for the treatment of pain using non-pharmacological interventions. Microcurrent therapy is currently an FDA approved device, which involves the application of a very small electric current, less than 1?mA, to the body for therapeutic effect.

Microcurrent therapy, when worn at home for 3?hours per day, demonstrated a weekly decrease in pain with it being significant at 3?weeks.
Microcurrent therapy, when worn at home for 3?hours a day also demonstrated increase function, especially at 3?weeks.

✓ Fact confirmed: Efficacy of microcurrent therapy for treatment of acute knee pain: A randomized double-blinded controlled clinical trial Daryl Lawson, Kevin H Lee, Hyun Bin Kang; October 23, 2020

Side Effects of Microcurrent Therapy

Even though microcurrent therapy can be very helpful in a number of cases and in the treatment of various conditions, there are some side effects that are possible and that the patient who is about to undergo such a treatment should be aware of.

Of course, side effects are rare and they don’t necessarily have to be experienced, but there are some cases in which they are more likely to occur, and such cases refer to the patients who have some problems with the brain, who have pacemaker implanted, or certain complications with the spinal cord. Also, pregnant women are not supposed to undergo microcurrent therapy, because of the increased risk of complications.

Side effects that have been reported so far consist of fatigue, nausea, sleepiness and symptoms that resemble those of the flu, though they are only temporary. They can be expected an hour and a half after the treatment, but they should not be felt for longer than 24 hours.

Also, a very common side effect is resonance, when due to the changes in muscle tissue, the rapid and unexpected removal of waste products occurs. Still, none of these side effects are too serious, and none of them are a reason to avoid this kind of the treatment, particularly when having in mind the positive effects.