Functional restoration involves administering electrical impulses throughout the body. This is done with a Functional Restoration Machine ( FRM). The process can be administered by a patient in the home setting, outside a clinic. Most patients seek the advice and treatment of a functional restorationist who has been trained and certifed by the American College of Physical Medicine.
The functional restorationist first finds areas, points, in the body that are most conductive to electricity. This is done by the use of electrical currents that are administered in the most painful areas. The actual points located are unlike surrounding points which are electrically resistant. In most cases the conductive points also respond to palpation and are physically the most sensitive. This information is ascertained through the use of a clinical functional restoration unit. The clinician uses these points and also instructs the patient when a home unit is needed on how to find the points.
A supervised exercise program is begun and the patient is expected to work at maximum effort performing the exercises correctly. Often this is done in a clinic but can also be completed over the internet with a video/phone connection. The exercises are done for minimal time, generally 7 - 14 minutes. Upon completion of the first set of exercises the functional restoration machine is placed on the patient and a second round of exercises is done.
The second round is the first round exercises duplicated, but with the functional restoration machine on during the exercises. It is the second round that the relief begins. Generally 5 - 14 sessions is all that is needed for complete relief. Most of the exercises and functional stimulation are done in the office, and later a functional restoration machine is leased for home use.
The initial process decreases the pain between 70 to 100%. For some patients a monthly tune up period is needed for about 20 minutes to maintain the electrical balances.
Another protocol developing for RSD and fibromyalgia patients is to create what is deemed a "vector current" in the patient's body. The FRM has two channels, or two places where electricity exits the machine, goes into the body, and travels to the other electrode to go back to the FRM. The path between the two electrodes is the path electrons travel and adjust the chemical constituents of the body.
For RSD and Fibro patients the electrodes are placed on the bottom of the feet, and on the hands. The current then travels through the body and at the midsection the "cross currents" create what is called a "vector". Vectoring is nothing more than two currents summating their energy at a given area. It is this flow of electrons and summation that is providing systemic relief to the RSD and fibromyalgia patient.
The Infrex units are engineered to provide a vector using only one channel, not the tradtional two.
Much more study is needed to establish that the chemical alteration of physiological processes by electricity may be the "Holy Grail" that allows the treatment and prevention of debilitating diseases heretofore not successfully treated.
A video on functional restoration is available here:
