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An Educated Guess on How Interferential Therapy Provides Carryover Pain Relief

Since the introduction of the Infrex Plus combination Tens/Interferential unit, January 2009, we've been pleased to report that our experience has been patients can self treat as needed and go for longer and longer time periods, pain free. Those results from interferential treatment mode are what is called "carryover" or "residual" pain relief.

We think there are basically several biological reasons why we are seeing this occur -

Ability to treat when pain present, and as often as needed, for as long as needed
Prevention of reoccurrence of the "pain cycle" by self treatment options.
Ability of the immune system to be taught to stop chronic pain by repeated treatments
Immune system response is altering pain causing cells permanently.

   We've tried to understand how this phenomena is occurring and more importantly, why. Up front if anyone can tell you why and how this occurs our best advice is to take it lightly as this is an unexplored area due to the only recent ability to self treat with a portable device rather than going to a clinic or hospital. Also the output is higher with the Infrex Plus than pre-existing type interferential units and the unit is premodulated.

   Let's take a guess at what is going on but first let's look at how cells live. We know that anytime you introduce electricity into the body that chemical changes will occur. Apparently with chronic pain patients there is some underlying physiological change occurring that may explain why the pain is diminishing or disappearing and progressively for longer time periods.

Dr. Pekar, an Austrian physician, as well as Dr. Robert Becker, U.S. physician, pioneered our understanding of the interactions of electricity and cell function. Much of his work was done with destroying cancer cells using electrical charges as well as other Naturopathic/Nutritional strategies in Dr. Pekar's case. Dr. Robert Becker's work was more with non-union fractures ( bones that did not heal ) and his work researched how to use electricity to unite bones that were not uniting. Without union amputation often follows.

Each cell carries a specific electromagnetic field giving rise to bioelectric currents and frequencies in all biological materials. There is little distinction between the type of cells such as neural, soft tissue, brain etc. as the basic functions of replication are practically identical. Cell division is universal.   Pekar found that in cancer cell tumors there existed an altered electric field which extends beyond the tumor’s borders and which is polarised toward the surrounding tissue. (This field does not automatically disappear after surgical removal of the tumor, a fact which can be measured and proved and which explains the high rate of recurrencies after surgery). The altering of adjacent cells energy ( remember postive/negative is much like a magnet - attraction/repulsion), due to the cancer cells, may explain how individual cancer cells migrate and then replicate. We may conclude that an influence exerted upon this field should also affect and modify the tumor.

An electric voltage is part of all functions in living tissue. It arises primarily at the cellular walls and gives rise to electric
currents. Nothing new here as has been known for a long time in medicine. Movement of electrons along a DC ( direct current which simply means a constant positive or negative charge ) field is being used in e.g. iontophoresis and electrophoresis. Cell membranes contain ion channels. They carry a negative charge at the outside of the cell membrane and show selectivity for kations, particularly for sodium and potassium ions. Part of these ion channels open only after adequate change of the membrane potential. Basically cell membranes are protective covers that constrain the inside within the cell wall/membrane. Charges, whether negative or positive, allow different chemicals to go from outside a cell wall to inside the cell wall. This is a chemical reaction.

To pictorially see this think of a tennis ball that is slightly too large to penetrate through the holes on a sphere. If you apply minimal pressure on the tennis ball then that pressure squeezes it momentarily and it becomes small enough, elongated, to be driven through the hole and into the sphere. The electrical charge is the "driving force" that powers the tennis ball through the hole on the sphere. Make sense????

   Cell life depends on the nutritional input and adequate excretion of metabolic end products. Both pathways use the ion channels. We humans consume, and then excrete, through specific pathways as do cells.

   This metabolism constitutes the flow of electric current. If a cell does not function normally, it emits an electromagnetic field which differs from the healthy field condition. This change in potential enables the cell to separate from other cells and to maintain its masking capabilities towards the reconnaissance function of the immune system. The cell's altered protein metabolism produces a membrane attacking enzyme which enables it to penetrate and to infiltrate normal surrounding tissue (Pekar). Cell resonance changes and the dynamic condition of tissue is being destroyed through polarity change.

    In chronic pain there exists an "altered cellular state" that has been providing a pain stimulus, an unnatural occurrence.

It may very well be that the altered sick state of multiple cells is being permanently changed to prevent the recurrence of pain with interferential therapy being provided when the painful state returns. We know in other medical fields that our immune system can be taught to stop bad bacteria, viruses etc. by treating the affected area as soon as possible. The process in dermatology of "freezing an unwanted wart", caused due to a virus also teaches our immune system to attack and kill the virus. Could this same phenomena be occurring now with chronic pain patients?

Is the use of interferential therapy, when pain returns, teaching our body that "pain" is an unnatural state? I don't know but the preliminary results are very promising for chronic pain patients.