Welcome back to the Embodi³ Prehab Series. Previous articles have covered:
- The importance of ACL prehab and the goals you should strive to hit in prehab
- Different types of exercises you can expect to be included in a quality ACL prehab program
- The exact exercises our coaches combine with direct current e-stim to generate best in class ACL prehab results
But if you're like most who read these articles, you aren't looking to improve at a reasonable rate, right? You're looking to beat the status quo and get moving again as quickly as possible. You may even be thinking… "I don't want to just recover from this ACL injury at the status quo rate. I want to come back from it faster, stronger, and more knowledgeable about the way my body works than before the injury occurred."
If so, you're in the right place, and reading the right blog. Embodi³ was created for people just like you.
At the core of this program is a revolutionary recovery technology: direct current electrical stimulation, or direct current e-stim. While direct current e-stim can help with a wide variety of conditions, we believe it is most perfectly suited to overcome the challenges associated with ACL injuries and surgery.
In many cases, athletes have reported feeling back to 100% heading into surgery. They've successfully run several miles and completed agility drills without any signs of instability or pain in the knee. Several clients and their doctors have even agreed not to pursue surgery, because they had returned to such high levels of function.
Simply put, direct current e-stim is why we do what we do. It drives results in both the ACL prehab and ACL post-op process that are unparalleled across the industry, and we've seen it time and time again.
What Is Direct Current E-Stim?
Direct current e-stim is a powerful form of electrical stimulation that is used to re-educate muscles to work properly after ACL injuries and surgery.
It is unlike any other kind of electrical stimulator you've used before. Our clients often refer to it as electrical stimulation "on steroids." They report that it feels 10 times more powerful than anything they have experienced in the past.
The device is unique among stimulators on the market, because it uses a pulsed direct current (DC), rather than alternating current (AC). The market is flooded with alternating current stimulators, because they are cheap to manufacture. Unfortunately, as is the case with most things in life, cheap often means less effective (or even not effective at all). When alternating current electrical stimulation devices are applied at a high enough level to be effective, they cause the muscles to co-contract or "lock up." This effect drastically diminishes the ability of AC stimulators to re-educate muscles to work properly again after ACL injuries and ACL surgery.
By all means, if you are looking for an electrical stimulation device just to "check the box" of using electrical stimulation in your rehab, purchase a cheap electrical stimulator off of Amazon. We won't stop you. We're not here to work with the box checkers or provide the cheapest solutions to your ACL recovery. We are here to work with those who truly want the best the ACL recovery world has to offer.
If you're looking for a device that can be used to effectively re-educate muscles to work properly, and that has helped the athletes we've worked with (when used with our protocols) score 20% higher on functional scores after ACL surgery, keep reading to learn more. To put that in perspective, the typical athlete we work with is normally scoring the same score 12 weeks after surgery that the average person does not score until 24 weeks after surgery.
How Is Direct Current E-Stim Used In ACL Prehab?
Immediately after an ACL injury, the nervous system makes changes to your body's movement to decrease stress on the knee. It restricts use of the quadriceps muscle, the large muscle on the front of your thigh, restricts range of motion, and begins to re-organize movement to compensate for the injured knee.
These changes may be beneficial in the short term, because they ensure that the knee does not suffer further injury. However, the changes at the neuromuscular level are so dramatic that they last far longer than necessary. Much of the ACL prehab and post-op recovery process are focused on undoing the changes that occur at the neuromuscular level (or at least they should be).
The unique effects of direct current electrical stimulation allow our clients to combine high levels of the stimulation with exercise to "re-activate" the quadriceps, increase range of motion, and re-educate the body to move without compensation.
During ACL prehab, you can think of using direct current e-stim as the most effective and safe means available to work out. The electrical stimulation is used to target the quadriceps and other specific weak spots while you perform exercises. At high levels of stimulation, the device will actually cause your body to reveal its compensation patterns or imbalances in an obvious way. Our coaches work with you to help you understand how your body is compensating and correct the pattern. By doing so, the nervous system re-learns to move without compensation and use the muscles properly. Training the muscles in this way decreases the onset of muscle atrophy and increases range of motion.
What Results Can I Expect In Embodi³ Prehab?
In general, our clients are expected to see about 25% improvement with each 20-25 minute workout with direct current e-stim. It should be noted that these kinds of results don't come easily. It takes a high degree of focus and ability to push through the intense discomfort of the electrical stimulation to achieve accelerated results in ACL recovery.
When applied over a period of time, each 25% improvement adds up. With just a month of work, the following achievements have been accomplished by athletes we've worked with during the prehab phase:
- A doctor was so impressed by the functional ability and stability of one athlete's knee that he recommended no longer pursuing surgery.
- Within 1 month of ACL prehab work, one athlete was jogging 2 miles on the beach with no discomfort or limitations.
- One athlete was able to perform full speed cutting and pivoting drills after completing the prehab program.
These are just three of many successful prehab stories with direct current e-stim. For those who are willing to put in the work, there is nothing else out there that helps you achieve ACL prehab and ACL recovery results like it.
Feel It On Your Own Knee
The best way to understand direct current e-stim is to feel it. In a free 2-day trial, you work out on a live video call with our team, so you see how your knee responds before you commit to anything. You can book it with the button below.
