MET physiology

Hey everyone, Mitch here. Just thought I'd upload some interesting information that will complement what Jerry posted recently. I found a number of useful sources that illustrate just how MET achieves increased healing. Take a read:

Microcurrent Electrical Therapy is said to be capable of enhancing healing. However, now I shall explore further just how this is achieved physiologically at the level of the cell.

Researcher Robert. O. Becker made some important discoveries relevant to MET. In 1985 he inferred that there is a self repair system in the body for dealing with wounds. This system is now known to be a closed-loop self repair system, which involves a signal being generated within the body when an injury occurs, which signals repair (Kirsch, 2001). When MET is applied, the body’s own electrical signals are assisted by externally generated signals, increasing stimulus strength and therefore increasing levels of healing.

It can be basically said that MET stimulates cellular physiology and growth, with some evidence suggesting it can potentially increase ATP generation by approximately 500% (Lathrop, 2011). This increased energy production assists in wound healing due to a decrease in ATP production via sodium pump disruption caused by trauma. This results in injured tissue having a large increase in electrical resistance, and therefore a decrease in cellular capacitance. MET increases cellular healing by reversing these decreases in capacitance, via decreasing the electrical resistance (Microcurrent Electrical Therapy, 2009). This return to cellular homeostasis allows the ATP generation to return to normal and membrane active transport to be increased. These processes have an overall affect of increasing healing via increased protein synthesis in the injured tissue, which facilitates healing significantly.

MET is also shown be capable of decreasing oedema, increasing migration of epithelial cells and fibroblasts to the wound site, and inhibit the growth of some pathogens (Lathrop, 2011).

Resources:

Lathrop, P. (2011). Physiological Effects of Microcurrent on the Body. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/drpeterlathrop/physiological-effects-of-microcurrent-on-the-body-peter-lathrop

Microcurrent Electrical Therapy (MET). (2009). Retrieved from http://www.youralphastim.com.au/main/page_side_nav_how_alphastim_works_met__microcurrent_electrical_therapy.html

Kirsch, L. (2001). A practical protocol for electromedical treatment of pain in pain management: A practical guide for clinicians. Mineral Wells, Texas.