Intramuscular stimulation for neuropathic pain

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A Brief Outline of Intramuscular Stimulation

Introduction:

Many people who suffer from chronic pain become frustrated and

depressed when their doctors cannot help. Some try medications and

physical therapies such as massage, physiotherapy, osteopathy and

chiropractic- even surgery, and still do not find lasting relief.

The following document explains briefly how chronic pain can occur,

even when there is no injury or inflammation, and it describes a

scientifically proven method for diagnosing and treating it.

What is intramuscular stimulation (IMS)?

Intramuscular stimulation (IMS) is an effective treatment for chronic

pain of neuropathic origin (see below). IMS was developed by Dr.Chan

Gunn while he was a clinic physician at the Workers' Compensation

Board of British Columbia. Dr.. Gunn, is currently a clinical

professor and teaches IMS at the University of Washington's

Multidisciplinary Pain Centre in Seattle and the University of

British Columbia's Medical School. IMS is also taught and utilised at

many centres around the world.

IMS is effective and has few side-effects; the technique is also

unequalled for finding and diagnosing muscle shortening in deep

muscles.

Although IMS uses implements adapted from traditional acupuncture, it

is based on scientific, neurophysiological principles. The

acupuncture needle used is very thin (much thinner than the hollow

needle used to inject medicine or take blood samples). You may not

even feel it penetrating the skin, and if your muscle is normal, the

needle is painless.

However if your muscle is supersensitive and shortened, you'll feel a

peculiar sensation - like a muscle cramp. This is a distinctive type

of discomfort caused by the muscle grasping the needle. Patients soon

learn to recognise and welcome this sensation. They call it a " good "

or positive pain because it soon disappears and is followed by a

wonderful feeling of relief and relaxation. The needle may still be

in you, but because the muscle is no longer tight, you no longer feel

it. What has happened is that the needling has caused your abnormal

muscle shortening to intensify and then release. It is important that

you experience this sensation in order to gain lasting relief.

Neuropathy - what happens when nerves start to go wrong...

Doctors usually have no difficulty in treating pain caused by injury

(a fracture, for example) or inflammation (such as rheumatoid

arthritis). They are perplexed however by pain that shows no sign of

tissue damage or inflammation.

This type of pain, known as neuropathic pain, typically occurs when

nerves malfunction following minor irritation. Nerves and nerve

endings become extremely sensitive and cause innocent, harmless

signals to be exaggerated and misinterpreted as painful ones.This

characteristic is known medically as supersensitivity). The result is

pain, even when extensive medical tests show there is " nothing

wrong " . Until recently, supersensitivity has received little

attention in medical circles.

The effects of IMS

The effects of IMS are cumulative- needling stimulates a certain

amount of healing, until eventually, the condition is healed and the

pain disappears. Some patients treated with IMS have remained pain-

free for over 20 years.

Frequency of treatments

Treatments are usually once a week (but can be spread out to two

weeks) to allow time between treatments for the body to heal itself.

The number of treatments you require will depend on several different

factors such as the duration and extent of your condition, how much

scar tissue ther is (this usually increases after surgery) and how

quickly your body can heal. The rate of healing depends on the

condition of your nerves(young people usually heal more quickly

although his is not always the case). If the pain is of recent

origin, one treatment may be all that is necessary. In published

studies of patients with low back pain, the average number of

treatments required was 8.2.

Treating neuropathic pain

Supersensitivity and muscle shortening cannot be operated on and " cut

away " . " Pain killers " and other analgesic pills only mask the pain.

The goal of treatment is to release muscle shortening which presses

on and irritates the nerve. Supersensitive areas can be desensitised

and the persistent pull of shortened muscles released.

The shortened muscle syndrome

An important factor in neuropathic pain is muscle shortening, caused

by muscle spasm and contractor. Muscle shortening produces pain by

pulling on tendons, straining them as well as distressing the joints

they move. Muscle shortening also increases wear and tear and

contributes to degenerative changes such as tendonitis and

osteoarthritis.

These conditions are customarily regarded as " local " conditions and

may not receive the appropriate diagnosis or treatment.

More info at:

http://www.intramuscularstimulation.com/2.htm

http://www.istop.org/drgunn.html

http://www.istop.org/ims.html

http://www.istop.org/papers/imspaper.pdf