Tecar therapy

Capacitive-resistive electrical transfer therapy (CRET) is used to reduce pain and improve functional disability, and the effect on chronic low back pain remains to be investigated.

This study aimed to examine the immediate effect on muscle activation time after irradiation of CRET therapy for chronic non-specific low back pain (NSCLBP).

Thirty patients with NSCLBP were randomly divided into an intervention group (n = 15) and a sham control group (n = 15). Participants and statisticians were unaware of the allocation of participants.

The intervention group received a 15-minute CRET therapy session on the lower back; the control group similarly received a sham therapy session of the same duration.

Before and immediately after the intervention, the activation time of the trunk and lower limb muscles during hip extension in the prone position was measured, and pain intensity was recorded using a visual analogue scale.

The intervention group showed a significant reduction in pain and a significantly earlier activation time of the thoracic part of the lumbar iliocostalis muscle, the lumbar multifidus and the great gluteus.

These results showed that CRET therapy not only reduced pain, but also facilitated trunk muscle activity. Improvements in muscle activity patterns could improve activities of daily living.

The aim is to analyse the temperature change and current flow in the superficial and deep tissues of the biceps femoris and quadriceps muscle when different protocols of capacitive-resistive electrical transfer therapy are applied.

Five cryopreserved cadavers (10 legs) were included in this study.

Four treatments (high/low power) were performed for 5 minutes each. Dynamic hamstring and quadriceps movements were performed.

Surface, intermediate and deep temperature was recorded at 1-minute and 5-minute intervals after the treatment using invasive thermometers positioned with ultrasound guidance.

The low-power applications generated a very low thermal effect and significant current flow. The high-power capacitive application achieved a greater increase in surface temperature than the low-power resistive application. The high-power resistive application experienced a greater increase in surface, intermediate and deep temperatures with a greater current flow than the other applications.

This study could serve as basic science data to justify the acceleration of muscle recovery processes by improving cell proliferation without increasing temperature in acute muscle injuries and increasing temperature and tissue viscoelasticity in chronic processes with this therapy.

The effects of thermotherapy on autonomic nervous system activity and subjective feelings of fatigue and activation are unclear.

This study compared the effects of capacitive and resistive electrical transfer (Cret) therapies (deep thermotherapy) and hot packets (superficial thermotherapy) on autonomic nervous system activity in young, healthy women (n = 16). Heart rate and RR interval were measured by electrocardiography, and the coefficient of variation (CV) of the RR interval was used to assess autonomic nervous system activity.

The subjective effect of relaxation was assessed using the Roken Arousal Scale (RAS) – an index of fatigue and activation.

The intervention was performed in the lumbar region for 20 minutes with both Cret and hot pack therapy. After each intervention, the CV values increased only in the Cret condition, while the heart rate decreased in both conditions.

This suggests that parasympathetic activity was enhanced in the Cret condition. In contrast, subjective assessment of relaxation showed a psychological relaxation effect in both conditions.

Our results suggest that the application of the Cret in the lumbar region has greater relaxation effects than the application of the hot pack in the same region.

This study aimed at investigating the acute effect of capacitive and resistive electrical transfer (CRet) intervention on eccentrically damaged muscles.

A total of 28 healthy, sedentary male volunteers were randomly assigned to CRet or control intervention groups.

Participants performed a series of eccentric hamstring extensor exercises with the dominant leg and received 30 minutes of CRet intervention on the quadriceps 48 hours after the exercise.

The dependent variables for the analysis were range of motion (ROM) of knee flexion, muscle pain and maximum voluntary isometric force (MVC-ISO) and concentric contraction (MVC-CON) of the knee extensor muscles.

These variables were measured before exercise (baseline) and before and after CRet (48 h post-exercise).

The results showed that knee flexion range of motion, muscle strength (MVC-ISO and MVC-CON) and muscle pain improved significantly after the CRet intervention.

The CRet intervention could improve muscle pain and loss of muscle function in an eccentrically damaged muscle.

Throughout history, a variety of therapeutic tools have been examined as possible enhancers of sports activities.

This study proposes the use of Capacitive-Resistive Electrical Transfer (CRET) as a performance booster for paralympic athletes, specifically those belonging to the Spanish paralympic swimming committee.

The study was a randomised, single-blind, observer-blind clinical trial with a crossover design. Six athletes were randomly assigned to three groups: one treated with CRET (A); a placebo group (B) and a control group (C). The CRET group participated in a twenty-minute session before undergoing pool tests at distances of 50 and 100 metres at maximum performance.

Measurements were on two dimensions: time in seconds and the Borg scale for perceived exertion.

Comparisons were made between the groups with respect to distance and the main variables.

In the case of perceived exertion, no significant variations were observed at any of the distances; however, in the case of the time variable, a significant difference was observed between Group A and the personal record at a distance of 100 metres (76.3 ± 6.8 vs. 68.4 ± 3.3).

Calf muscle sprains and Achilles tendon injuries are common in many sports.

For the treatment of muscle and tendon injuries, one of the newest approaches in sports medicine is capacitive-resistive electrical transfer therapy.

Our aim was to analyse this in vitro, using invasive temperature measurements on cadaveric specimens.

A cross-sectional study was designed with five freshly frozen cadavers (10 legs) included in the study.

Four interventions (capacitive and resistive mode; low and high power) were performed for 5 minutes each. Achilles tendon, muscle-tendon junction and surface temperatures were recorded at 1-minute and 5-minute intervals after treatment.

With the low-power capacitive protocol, at 5 minutes there was a 25.21% increase in surface temperature, a 17.50% increase in Achilles tendon temperature, and an 11.27% increase in muscle-tendon junction temperature, with a current flow of 0.039 A ± 0.02.

With the low-power resistive protocol, there was a 1.14% increase in surface temperature, a 28.13% increase in Achilles tendon temperature, and an 11.67% increase in muscle-tendon junction temperature at 5 minutes, with a current flow of 0.063 A ± 0.02.

With the high-power capacitive protocol there was an 88.52% increase in surface temperature, a 53.35% increase in Achilles tendon temperature and a 39.30% increase in muscle-tendon junction temperature at 5 minutes, with a current flow of 0.095 A ± 0.03.

With the high-power resistive protocol, there was a 21.34% increase in surface temperature, a 109.70% increase in Achilles tendon temperature, and an 81.49% increase in muscle-tendon junction temperature at 5 minutes, with a current flow of 0.120 A ± 0.03.

The low-power protocols produced only a very slight thermal effect on the Achilles tendon and muscle-tendon junction, but a current flow was observed.

The high-power protocols caused a greater temperature increase at the Achilles tendon and muscle-tendon junction and a greater current flow than the low-power protocols.

The high-power resistive protocol caused the greatest temperature increase at the Achilles tendon and muscle-tendon junction.

The capacitive treatments (low and high power) achieved a greater increase in surface temperature.