hey everybody it's doctor Jo, and today we're going to talk about neuromuscular
stimulators and the folks at shophysio sent me their Neurodyn II byIbramed.
so let's get started.
so what I really like about the Neurodyn II neuromuscular stimulator is it has three different
settings to it. it's got the traditional TENS which is for pain relief. it has a
Russian current which is really getting that muscle contraction for muscle
retraining and help getting that strength back, and then also has an FES
which is the functional electrical stimulation which really helps that
muscle functionally. so like let's say maybe you have foot drop and you're
really trying to get that dorsiflexion. you can use the FES or the functional
electrical stimulation to help pull it up while you're walking, or it simulates
help pulling it up while you're walking. so it's really cool that it has these
three different settings it also has four different channels that you can use.
and you can use them independently which is really cool because this is a
professional unit, and so when you're in the clinic maybe more than one person
wants to use it, so since the channels are used independently that's a really
great component to have when you're in a clinic. so again with this being a
professional unit, you still might want to watch this video because you want to
learn about the functions that it uses. so if it's something that you think will
help you, you can go ask your therapist or your healthcare professional and see
if it's right for you. and so I really like these professional units because
sometimes the handheld units are great that you can get for home use, but if you
really want to get that strong muscle contraction where you're retraining, and
you have somebody that's a professional healthcare provider helping you do that,
these really help get that strong current in there to help you going. so
the Russian Current is really one of my favorites. it's no fun at all. I mean you
want maximum contraction where it's almost unbearable, but it really helps
retrain that muscle. and so what I like about this specific unit is it's really
user friendly. it's easy to use if you're in the clinic, you don't want to have to
sit there and set up a whole bunch of different things. so it's got where you
can program some protocols in there for yourself. so let's
say I want to be able to activate that anterior tibialis that I use the same
settings every time. you can plug that in once into your user program, and then
it's there for you every time. so it just makes it more efficient in the clinic
where you don't have to set stuff up every single time. but if you want to
since everybody's a little bit different, you can do that each time as well. so
what I want to do is just show you a little bit about each one and the
parameters you can use with them because some of them do have different
wavelengths again the Russian current versus the functional electrical
stimulation. when you're doing the FES, you really want just enough current to
be able to accomplish what you're trying to do. or like let's say it's on my wrist
extensors I'm trying to do this because my muscles are really weak and I just
can't lift it up. I don't want it to be so strong where it's just hurting and
uncomfortable, it's coming up and just making that muscle contract so much, I'd
use that functional electrical stimulation where it's just enough to
get it up, and I can practice that movement while it's coming up versus if
I really didn't have much at all and I really did just want to strengthen that
muscle I'd used that Russian current where I'm really trying to get a strong
contraction. a lot of times it's really great on your quad after a knee surgery
because like a total knee replacement or something like an ACL reconstruction,
sometimes your quad just goes I'm not doing anything anymore, and that Russian
current is a great way to help get that muscle contracting. and so you have a
better recovery in the long run. so let me put everything together and show you
how it works. so as you can see here, what's really cool about the unit is
with the different channels the four different channels there's four
different colors. and so again this is for clinical use for professional use,
and if you've ever been in the clinic and you're sharing a unit with somebody,
you know that having it color coded makes it super easy because if someone's
using channel one they'll know what color it is. if someone wants to use
channel three they know what color it is. and that really does make a pretty big
difference. so I'm going to go ahead and turn it on and so when it first comes on
the Ibramed logo shows up and then it says
Neurodyn II. and so when you set up your parameters, it has all the ways to set it
up here. I'm not going to go into too much detail about the different
parameters because since this is for professional use, the clinician
should know which one works best for them. which one works best for their
patients, depending on what the injury is and everything like that. but I'll
briefly kind of go over the different selections that you can pick in the
modes and things like that. so the first thing is just the current that you want.
so you can use your TENS, you can use your FES, or you can use your Russian
current. and then so again you can see that there's not a whole lot of buttons
that you have to press. so it makes it super easy where you're just doing the
select up and down, and then you're doing the set picking the ones once you select
it. so you can then do your timer which it goes from 1 to 60 minutes, and so
that's nice usually in most of the electrical stimulation settings I would
say 15 minutes at the most. if you're doing like a Russian current, probably
just 10 minutes because you're contracting that muscle so much you
probably don't want anything longer than that. if you're doing a TENS you might
want it a little bit longer, but again in the clinical setting you know this is
just a part of the therapy that's not the whole therapy so maybe 15 to 20
minutes at the most but it does have the option to go higher if you want to. it
also has the manual stimulation so you can this was where if you want channel 1
maybe for like a TENS, and the channel 2 for the TENS so you're crossing it,
you can independently increase the intensity between the two which is nice
because if I am just putting my unit here and here the channels, I might want
the one on the inside a little bit stronger this way versus that way so
it's just nice to be able to use them kind of independently. and then you've
also got for if you're using like the russian current you can ramp up and ramp
down. it has the settings for that which is nice because if you've ever had it on
you, and I've had it on me before, you want a little bit of a ramp up so you
know when it's starting to happen because you want that contraction to be
strong. you want, I always tell my patients tell me when it's high enough
where you can't tolerate it anymore, and then usually go up about one or two,
which is mean, but usually you you know you want that strong contraction, but you
want that ramp up so they know it's coming so it doesn't just come on nice
and strong and then you can do the same ramping it down as well.
so that's a nice component of those two and then you can just set all these
parameters depending on if you're doing the tens,
the Russian current, or the FES .and then with the tens you can also do if you
want a just a normal conventional which is the the ramping nice and slow up down,
or you can do the burst cycle which it changes it up a little bit so your body
doesn't adjust to the current and kind of adapt to it. so all those settings are
really nice and again they change depending on what you're using it for,
the patient you're using it for, the type of injury and things like that. so make
sure you do your research and find out the best parameters for what you're
going to use. so I'm really quickly just going to show you kind of on my wrist
extensors so you can see it .so I'm just going to use one channel for that and
I'm going to use actually the functional setting because what's nice about that
is, it's going to be just enough where it's going to pull it up, but not so much
where I can't tolerate it. and so that's what I think it's probably going to be
the best one. so I'm just going to do FES there, and channel one.
so with these they've got the little pigtail attachment so you just kind of
snap it in make sure they're all the way in there and then you can kind of go
maybe down here and then up here. so you're really wanting to get kind of up
top and then in that belly areas this might even be a little bit too low. I
really want on the the belly of the muscles right here and here to help get
that contraction while going. so once you have the pads place, you're gonna go
ahead and then hit the start, and then for channel one which is so on I'm just
gonna slowly start taking it up I can feel just a little bit of tingling now.
so I usually tell my patients you know I'm gonna go fast until you start
feeling it, and then once it starts getting to
where you're like, yeah I feel it, then I'm gonna start going slower until we
can get that contraction. once I start feeling that pull, I'm gonna just gonna
pull up with it. so as it comes up, I'm gonna try and pull up with it and then
when it lets go I'm gonna drop back down as well. and so that's really with
functional electrical stimulation all you're doing. you're trying to
functionally move the muscle as well. and so sometimes depending on what current
you're using, you might have to move the pads around a little bit and that's fine.
the clinician should be able to, you know, do that and show you how to do it as
needed. so if you're interested in purchasing the Neurodyn II or any of the
other products at shophysio, which are professional use products for things
like physical therapy, aesthetics, and athletic training, make sure you click on
the link up there. and don't forget to subscribe by clicking down there. and
remember be safe, have fun, and I hope you feel better soon.