Health Research Digest with Leo and Eva

Did you know?

Healthy men who used EMS 𝗸𝗲𝗽𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗰𝗹𝗲 through 5 days without moving.

The men who skipped EMS lost 3.5% in the same time.

This EMS study was led by 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗳. 𝗟𝘂𝗰 𝘃𝗮𝗻 𝗟𝗼𝗼𝗻 at Maastricht University, Netherlands.

The results appeared in 2014 in Acta Physiologica, a peer-reviewed journal.

It’s the official journal of the Scandinavian Physiological Society.

The trial was ethics-approved and officially registered.

24 healthy young men had one leg placed in a cast, as a planned test.

For 5 days, that leg couldn’t move.

Half used EMS on the thigh, in two 40-minute sessions a day.

That’s 𝟭𝟬 𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 in total.

The other half did nothing extra.

Scientists measured the legs with CT scans, DEXA scans and strength tests.

🦵 No-EMS group: thigh muscle shrank 3.5%.

✅ EMS group: no significant loss in thigh muscle size.

📈 EMS group: leg lean tissue rose about 𝟭.𝟵%.

🔬 A muscle breakdown signal fell 𝟯𝟱% with EMS, but rose 48% without.

One honest note: strength dropped in both groups.

This study tested healthy young men only.

Busy workers, travellers and people on a training break may benefit too.

If you had a week off training, how would you keep your muscles working?

For information only, not medical advice.

#EMS #EMSTraining #MuscleScience 

Scientists at Chiba University in Japan used advanced imaging to see inside the calf during EMS.

Twenty-four healthy men used a leg EMS trainer for just 15 minutes.

The main calf muscle’s activity score jumped about 173%. Front shin muscles rose about 175%, even without pads on them.

A second test confirmed higher muscle fluid. A control test with the device switched off showed no change.

The study was peer-reviewed and published in a respected UK journal.

Results suggest EMS may suit people wanting low-impact exercise. Other groups and goals may benefit too.

Read on for the full story.

Scientists at Yonsei University in South Korea ran a randomised trial with 50 healthy adults.

Volunteers used an Ab EMS trainer  for 23 minutes, twice a day, for 8 weeks.

One group added crunches. MRI scans showed the six-pack muscle grew about 21–25% in both groups.

 Side ab muscles grew up to 9%. Core control improved too, by up to 70% when EMS was paired with exercise.

The study was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Sport Rehabilitation. It suggests EMS may support fitness in healthy adults.

Future research may show benefits for other groups and goals. Read on to see the full results.

Scientists at Northern Illinois University tested abdominal EMS in 38 healthy men and women. They measured energy use, heart rate, and breathing at rest and while walking.

EMS raised energy expenditure by 19.4% at rest and 4.4% during walking. Heart rate rose 14.3% at rest and 8.3% while walking. Fat use also increased during walking.

Men and women responded the same. Results were strong even at different comfort levels.

These findings show abdominal EMS can boost metabolism and cardiorespiratory demand in healthy adults. Related research suggests it may also help other groups and purposes.

The study was carefully controlled, repeated, and published in a peer-reviewed journal led by Dr. Craig E. Broeder. Read the full post to see all the clear evidence.

Scientists tested full body EMS on 40 sedentary overweight women (BMI 25–29.9, ages 20–45). One group did aerobic exercise three days a week. The other did the same plus full body EMS two days a week for 20 minutes. Both followed a 500-calorie deficit diet for six weeks.

They measured weight, body fat percentage, waist and hip size, abdominal and suprailiac skinfolds, and soft lean mass using scales, tape, calipers, and bioimpedance. Both groups improved. The full body EMS group cut abdominal skinfold more (about 3 mm) and kept muscle steadier while losing roughly 2 kg.

These results suggest full body EMS helps overweight women refine body shape and support muscle during fat loss. It may also help other groups or goals. The work came from Tehran University and was peer-reviewed by Springer, so it is reliable. Read the full post for more details and numbers.

Scientists tested spinal cord stimulation (SCS) in people with spinal injuries during exercise. They measured blood pressure, oxygen use, and how long athletes could keep going.

One study found a 26 percent rise in peak oxygen uptake. Another showed athletes lasted up to 19 minutes longer, with an average 48 percent better performance.

These results suggest SCS can help people with spinal cord injury exercise harder and longer by supporting blood flow and reducing limits from low blood pressure.

Similar benefits may reach others with neurological conditions. The work comes from the University of Birmingham and was published in the respected journal Sports Medicine.

Read the full post for the exact study details and what they mean.

Scientists measured every breath in 40 healthy sedentary adults while EMS pads worked the belly, buttocks, and thighs. At a visible muscle contraction, oxygen use rose from 0.227 to 0.252 litres a minute. At the strongest comfortable level it reached 0.265, and calories climbed from 65 to 76 an hour. The lift was still there in recovery. Higher stimulation intensity meant more energy expenditure, in a straight line. Fat stayed a major fuel. Age, sex, and body size did not change the extra burn.

That points to a real benefit for sedentary adults who want more energy use without loading joints, and possibly for others who find normal exercise hard. The work came from Chang Gung University, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, and National Yang Ming University, with ethics approval, and was published in the peer-reviewed journal Sensors. The full post has the exact levels, the comfort data, and who else researchers think it may help. 

Scientists in Athens tested whether electrical muscle stimulation could slow muscle loss in critically ill patients who could not exercise. A randomised hospital study used ultrasound to measure the rectus femoris and vastus intermedius on day two and again one week later. Both groups lost muscle. The stimulation group lost less. Right thigh size fell about 8% and 12.5% with daily sessions, versus about 13.9% and 21.5% with usual care. Those gaps were significant. Published in Critical Care by a University of Athens team, the evidence is strongest for very sick, bed-bound patients, and it hints at benefit for others who cannot train. The full post has the settings, both-leg numbers, and limits.

A team at the University of Bologna, with colleagues in Trento and the United States, pooled five fair tests of walking versus other exercise for chronic low back pain. The trials included 329 adults, average age about 43. Pain, disability, quality of life, and fear of movement improved in a similar way in both groups. The differences were small and not statistically significant at short, mid, and long follow-up. Adding walking to exercise did not clearly add a short-term gain. The paper is a peer-reviewed meta-analysis in Disability and Rehabilitation. The full post explains the doses, the scores, and what the numbers do not prove.

https://oriems.fit/blogs/research-digest/stay-strong-at-any-age-how-ems-can-help

Doctors in New York reviewed 20 studies on muscle stimulation, covering 521 people. Their 2022 paper ran in Dermatologic Surgery, published by Wolters Kluwer in the United States. Teams at Hofstra/Northwell and UnionDerm graded the proof. MRI, CT, and ultrasound measured the change. On the abdomen, muscle thickness rose about 15 to 21 percent. Fat thickness fell about 15 to 20 percent. Some of that change lasted one year. Postpartum women showed a smaller muscle gap. Arms and calves thickened too. The scans suggest this stimulation can help people seeking a firmer abdomen, arms, or calves. EMS may offer similar support, and other groups and goals may benefit too. The full post has every figure.