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BIID and Muscle Spasms
Written by Sean on Monday, October 6, 2008
I’ve been going to the physiotherapist for a bit of an injury. They’ve been using EMS Electrotherapy, which is proving to be both helpful and interesting from a BIID point of view. Basically, small 4 electrodes are applied around the injury site and a current is run. You can increase or decrease the amount of current used, hence getting more or less of an effect on your muscles.
Some of you may be familiar with TENS units. It’s remarkably similar, except that it’s not portable and from what I understand, it’s got more grunt than a portable TENS unit. And the EMS focuses on muscles whereas the TENS focuses on nerves, slight detail ;)
Anyway, there’s four electrodes on "sticky pads". The things are placed around the injured muscle, and the machine is turned on. You can regulate how much, or how little current goes through. The area between the electrodes goes from a slight buzz to a bit of a tingle, and the higher the current, the more you feel it. Tingle soon can become muscle spasms.
Today, I pushed the machine a bit and got spasms going through the muscles. Now, these were not particularly intense. Yet I had no control over them. My muscles were tensing and releasing, dancing a little jig of their own. I was on this for 20 minutes.
The entire time I was fascinated by the feeling of being unable to control my muscles. I tried relaxing, the "meat" just did its thing. I tried tensing on purpose, but it wouldn’t listen. Of course I was still able to move the limb around.
It was interesting to think that many people with spinal cord injuries have muscle spasms. Now, I know from talking to many paraplegics and quadriplegics that muscle spasms can be quite painful sometimes. So I am not deluding myself into thinking that what I experienced was "just like" muscle spasms from an SCI would be. Yet, maybe it gave me a little bit of a taste. Or maybe I’m just fooling myself, a possibility I cannot ignore!
And for what it’s worth, yes, the injury I have is directly related to using a wheelchair all the time for over a decade. It would probably heal faster if I weren’t in the wheelchair so much. I can no more stop using the chair than run a marathon without training. This injury is insignificant in comparison with the emotional trouble I’d be in if I stopped using a wheelchair.
Tags: Electrotherapy, Muscle, Muscle Spasm, Paraplegic, Physiotherapist, Spasm, Spinal Cord Injury, Wheelchair
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3 Comments
Sean;
In your mind, does this experience bring you closer to what you need to achieve? Is this a step in the right direction for you, or something that is not really noteworthy?
3 On 6 October, 2008, Claire said:
I also have chair-related arm/shoulder injuries. Already! Moral of the story: don’t wheel until and unless you absolutely must.
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1 On 6 October, 2008, Chloe said:
This sounds pretty similar to what I have going on in my left quadriceps. It’s not a full blown spasm like a paraplegic might have. However, it is interesting to watch the muscles just doing their own thing, with absolutely no control over it.