I.M.S.

GunnIMS or Intramuscular Stimulation is an effective treatment for chronic pain of neuropathic origin.

Nerves can become compressed or irritated for various reasons causing their signals to become exaggerated or perceived as painful ones. The result is pain that exists despite having no signs of inflammation or tissue damage.

Another result of neuropathic pain is chronic muscle shortening. Overactivation of the muscle by an irritated nerve causes muscle spasm and chronic muscle shortening. Pain is a result of the shortened muscle pulling on the tendons, straining them as well as distressing the joints they move. Muscle shortening also increases wear and tear and contributes to degenerative changes such as 'tendonitis', 'osteoarthritis', and degenerative disc problems.

When your car is revving too high, we quickly push on the gas to 'reset' the idle. With your nerves, we can stimulate them with electro activity and physical trauma of the needle resulting in the muscle cramping.

The result is the nerve activity being 'reset' and the muscle tone decreasing, thus relaxing into a fully lengthened position and alleviating the chronic muscle shortening and correlating symptoms. Areas that were previously “supersensitive” will regain normal sensation.

Once that muscle tissue length and function is restored and painful areas are desensitized, exercise and normal activities will be easier to perform.

Your physiotherapist may decide to use modalities, mobilize or manipulate joints, stretch muscle or tight tissue in the area, strengthen for proper movement patterns, or break down scar tissue as you work toward fixing the primary problem.

In all cases a big part of Physiotherapy is to educate you as to how to manage what is wrong and what is needed to stretch, strengthen and/or stabilize in order to maximize your full potential.

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