Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES)
In sports medicine, neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) has been used for muscle strengthening, maintenance of muscle mass and strength during prolonged periods of immobilization, selective muscle retraining, and the control of edema. A wide variety of simulators, including the burst-modulated alternating current ('Russian stimulator'), twin-spiked monophasic pulsed current and biphasic pulsed current stimulators, have been used to produce these effects. Several investigators have reported increased isometric muscle strength in both NMES-stimulated and exercise-trained healthy, young adults when compared to unexercised controls, and also no significant differences between the NMES and voluntary exercise groups. It appears that when NMES and voluntary exercise are combined there is no significant difference in muscle strength after training when compared to either NMES or voluntary exercise alone. There is also evidence that NMES can improve functional performance in a variety of strength tasks.
