#48: Improve Movement and Decrease Pain

PowerDot has combined the power of the best TENS unit therapy and the best muscle stimulator to help you move more and move better.

The wireless Transcutaneous Electrical Muscle Stimulation (TENS) therapy setting aids in pain management for low back pain, knee pain, shoulder pain… in essence “joint pain”.

The muscle stimulation powered by Smart NMES technology has the capability to enhance performance by increasing strength and power by stimulating both Type I and Type II muscle fibers.

As our bodies age, they begin to break down. Osteoporosis, low bone mineral density, and sarcopenia, low muscle mass and strength, seem to be an inevitable part of aging. 

As every year, month, day, hour, minute, and second that goes by our bodies seem to be working against us. This may actually prevent us from being as active as we want to be… or from doing things we really enjoy doing. But there are ways this break-down, catabolic aging process can be prevented, or at least slowed.

As previously mentioned, osteoporosis and sarcopenia are resultant of the catabolic aging process and the onset of these diseases may begin as early as 25 to 30 years old! Meaning our bones and muscles may be breaking down and getting weaker when we should be in the prime of our lives.

Approximately 5-13% of people will have sarcopenia and 1 in 3 females as well as 1 in 5 males will experience an osteoporotic fracture sometime in their life. This has the potential to negatively impact and diminish the ability to perform activities of daily living and be a detriment to quality of life.

Moving more and stimulating greater muscle activation is key to fighting the catabolic diseases of osteoporosis and sarcopenia. By decreasing pain using TENS therapy, PowerDot technology has the ability to get us moving pain free by helping us to move more and increase physical activity. Using Smart NMES technology, PowerDot may help improve muscular strength and power by promoting positive physiological adaptations to skeletal muscle.

Meaning, PowerDot technology has the capacity to help us move more and move better. PowerDot may be the missing link to helping you live an abundant and adventurous life. But before we get to that, let’s first dive into how osteoporosis and sarcopenia occur so we can be aware of how to best use PowerDot to fight the bodily breakdown associated with aging!

Poverty of the Flesh… Sarcopenia

The Greek meaning of Sarcopenia is “Poverty of the Flesh”. Essentially, that’s what it is. It’s age related muscle loss which may be due to the combination of several lifestyle and aging factors.

Now, as early as the age of 30, muscle mass may begin to decrease at an annual rate of 1-2%. As a result of this loss of muscle mass, muscle strength also begins to diminish.

What happens is that Type II motor units, these are the guys that tell our muscle fibers to fire fast, become denervated and die as we age. This is exacerbated even more the less the muscle is being stimulated. This means we now have a greater proportion of Type I fibers in each muscle.

Our Type II fibers are our “fast-twitch” fibers and our Type I fibers are our “slow-twitch” fibers. Meaning, starting as early as 30 years old, we could be losing our strong and power Type II muscle fiber recruitment. Meaning we’re becoming weaker and less powerful.

Porous Bone

This aging process is no good for our skeletal muscle and it sure does not do us any favors when it comes to our skeletal system. Now, our skeletal system is designed to provide a structural framework and support for human movement. A weak skeleton means weak movement.

Osteoporosis quite simply means porous bone. Something that is porous is not very strong which is why with osteoporosis, we have low bone mineral density. This porous bone is not as structurally strong and can make us more prone to injury and fractures.

How Osteoporosis works is that there’s basically an imbalance between our osteoblasts and osteoclasts. Think of our osteoblasts as our good guys. Osteoblasts help to make newer and stronger bone. Hormones like testosterone and estrogen stimulate osteoblasts. Intense muscular contraction, like exercising with NMES, also promotes osteoblast proliferation.

The tough thing that happens is that as we age, hormone levels and physical activity levels tend to decrease in which we now see osteoclast proliferation to be greater than osteoblast activity. Osteoclasts are the bad guys. They degrade bone and make it weak.

Osteoporosis is especially high in females. Specifically post-menopausal females as estrogen levels have significantly decreased, which as we mentioned earlier, would now cause an increase in osteoclast activity. This is why it’s so important for everyone, especially females, to get the most out of their training to increase bone mineral density at a young age.

How young? What if we told you that your peak bone mineral density happens between the ages of 25-30? After that, it’s all downhill from there. You may not increase your bone mineral density past this age. This is why it’s so important to take advantage of every training tool to increase bone mineral density.

Fashionably late…

Some, if not most of us may be past this 25-30 year old range and may be feeling like we’re late to the party. First of all, isn’t everyone always late to a party. No one shows up on time, that’s just awkward.

It’s never too late! You can still keep your muscles and bones from deteriorating. And a little help from PowerDot may be just exactly what your body needs.

Physical activity and strong forceful muscular contractions are the key drivers in helping your bones and muscles stay “good to go” so you’re ready for whatever life throws your way. Using PowerDot is the best way to make sure you are promoting optimal physiological adaptations.

First off, if you’re above the 25-30 year old mark, well you’re not alone, and we may not be as active because getting older just hurts more. Pain management is one way in which the PowerDot Smart TENS wireless unit can help. A number of people choose to be inactive because of pain. But with PowerDot Smart TENS, pain can be a thing of the past.

TENS therapy sends electrical signals at a specific rate and frequency so as to block pain signals sent to the brain. This may allow you to move pain free which would make you want to move more and increase your physical activity. We get it, why would you want to do something if it hurts? But there’s now a solution for that.

Now that you’re moving pain free, the great thing about PowerDot, is that when you purchase your Pro Bundle, you receive the TENS and NMES technology which are all controlled by an app on your phone via bluetooth.

And the Smart NMES is designed to stimulate both your Type I and Type II fibers to fire. By stimulating both fibers types, this may help to prevent or delay the denervation of Type II fibers. Adding NMES to your exercise and strength training positively impacts your muscular size and strength more so than if you were to not use it.

And for your bones… NMES stimulates osteoblast proliferation and this is without doing any exercise. So, all you would have to do is follow the scientifically designed preset programs already waiting for you in your app and be on your way to bettering your bone health.

So what are you waiting for? Whether young or old, we need to think about enhancing the strength and performance of our musculoskeletal system. Snag PowerDot today to get everything you need to create positive physiological adaptations.

Author: 

Joshua D. Dexheimer, PhD, CSCS, USAW, PES