New Year, New You
For many people, the end of one year and the beginning of a new one is a special time. Besides taking place in the peak summer months in Australia, which means holidays and going to the beach, January is often about fresh starts and focussing on your intentions for the upcoming year. From hitting the treadmill or an exercise bike in the gym more often to working on your stress or mental health, a new year offers the opportunity to initiate meaningful changes and commit to new, healthy habits. And if you’re starting a new exercise regime or ramping up an existing one, a PainPod or Hidow machine can help you reach your goals.
We all know that regular exercise improves your health significantly. Benefits include achieving and maintaining a healthy body weight, improving muscle mass, and reducing your risk for chronic diseases. Additionally, research has shown that regular exercise can lift mood, boost mental health, and improve sleep while maintaining energy levels.
[An older man with a grey beard smiles while stretching his arm across his chest during an outdoor group exercise session. Behind him, other people are also stretching on a grassy field, enjoying the fresh air and fitness activity.]
Although exercise is good for your overall well-being, injuries can occur whether you’re new to it or a veteran who exercises frequently. You’re at risk of calf muscle injuries, for example, if you take up running, even if you use a treadmill. Knee and shoulder injuries can occur because of awkward movements or not using gym equipment properly. If your New Year intentions have included taking up a new sport such as tennis or golf, you may develop tennis elbow, which affects the outside of the joint, or golfer’s elbow, which involves the inside. Down the track, overuse injuries such as bursitis or tendinitis can flair up, which affects many areas including the shoulders, or plantar fasciitis, which irritates the plantar fascia in the heel.
Ways to avoid exercise injury include warming up before you start, cooling down properly afterwards, beginning any exercise program slowly and mindfully if you’re a newbie, and listening to your body for signs you’ve overdone it or have an injury threatening. However, a TENS machine such as the PainPod or Hidow can help you to avoid problems or manage them if they should occur, from delivering on-demand drug-free pain relief (1) (2) to helping to ease soreness and speeding up recovery (2) (3).
TENS, or transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, is a non-invasive form of therapy that provides quick, drug-free pain relief (1) (2) while also accelerating the healing process (2) (3). It works by flooding the nervous system with gentle electrical impulses delivered through the skin via electrodes. These pulses interfere with and block pain signals from travelling to the brain and stimulate the body to produce natural pain relievers called endorphins to provide pain relief (1) (2). Meanwhile, EMS, or electrical muscle stimulation, is also featured in PainPod and Hidow machines. It’s a form of therapy that delivers electric impulses to the muscles, helping with muscle strengthening and playing a significant role in recovery from physical activity by increasing blood circulation and reducing muscle soreness (4).
[A close-up of a person sitting on a leather couch using the PainPod Knee Wrap with the PainPod Lite device. The Knee Wrap is a wrap around accessory used specifically to treat the Knee area.]
Besides helping people recover from exercise and sports activity and injuries, PainPod and Hidow machines can be used by anyone looking for drug-free pain relief (1) (2) and to help manage a lineup of problems from everyday aches and period pain (5) to sore backs (6). There’s also a range of accessories you can add to either device, from dedicated elbow wraps to knee wrap, and you can use your device for a feel-good foot or lower back massage after a long session at the gym or playing your favourite sport.
For more information about PainPod and Hidow machines and accessories, click here.
Resources:
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/
References:
1. Vance, et al. Using TENS for pain control: the state of the evidence. Pain Management. 3: 197-209, 2014
2. Mankovsky-Arnold, T., et al. TENS attenuates repetition-induced summation of activity-related pain following experimentally induced muscle soreness. 14 (11): p. 1416-24, 2013 (NEW STUDY ADDED FROM LIST, NUMBER 9 ON SPREADSHEET)
3. Taylor, et al. The impact of neuromuscular electrical stimulation on recovery after intensive, muscle damaging, maximal speed training in professional team sports players. J Sci Med Sport. 2015 May;18(3):328-32
4. Kwon, DR. et al. Short-term micro-current electrical neuromuscular stimulation to improve muscle function in the elderly: A randomised, double-blinded, sham-controlled clinical trial. Medicine. 96:26, 2017
5. Barbosa Mde. Evaluation of pain thresholds across the menstrual cycle using TENS. 68(7): p. 901-8, 2013
6. Guild, D.G. Mechanical therapy for low back pain. 39(3): p. 511-6, 2012
