By Dr. Billy Ledbetter, Jr. M.D
Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) Therapy
Health/ Wellness
You may have heard about pulsed electromagnetic field therapy and how it is used by NASA to help mitigate muscle atrophy and bone loss in astronauts in space. What you may not know is that PEMF was used thousands of years ago in Chinese medicine by placing magnetic stones on the body to support healing. This was recorded thousands of years ago in a book on Chinese medicine called The Yellow Emperor’s Book of Internal Medicine.
What is PEMF you may ask? It stands for Pulsed Electromagnetic Field. Devices that administer PEMF therapy emit electromagnetic waves in brief bursts and at very low frequencies like the electromagnetic waves found in nature. This acts to stimulate and support the body’s natural healing processes.
Doctor Jerry Tennant MD in the book Healing is Voltage describes how PEMF works.
“The voltage of a healthy cell is about -22 to -25 milli volts. We start to get sick when that voltage drops below -15 milli volts or less. Once our cells’ voltage drops below that level, they are unable to heal and become dysfunctional. By inducing a small electromagnetic current into damaged cells, PEMF therapy slows or stops the release of pain and inflammatory mediators, increases blood flow of the cells, and reestablishes normal cell interaction. With reduced inflammation, pain decreases, energy increases, and faster tissue healing occurs.
Doctor Tennant also states that for cells to heal they must achieve -50 milli volts and PEMF helps to support the cells in returning to this level of voltage.
Voltage is important because our cells use cellular pumps to bring supplies into the cells and pump out or allow waste products to exit the cells. These pumps require energy to do their work and they get their energy from ATP (adenosine triphosphate) and the trans membrane potential which is the difference in voltage from one side of the cell membrane to the other. These are the primary ways the body stores energy at the cellular level.
Earth based energies such as PEMF feed cellular metabolism and recharge the way that the cells store energy (voltage across the membrane and ATP). Using PEMF with earth-based frequencies is like using microscopic jumper cables to give the cells a full charge so the body has the energy to use in performing the processes necessary to life and for healing.
Historically humans got plenty of these good earth-based energies from, well, the earth, but that is no longer the case. Due to the decrease in earth’s magnetic field and the fact that people spend most of their time indoors sheltered from these natural electromagnetic frequencies, we are no longer exposed to these beneficial and very necessary waves.
We are also getting exposed to too many bad electromagnetic waves from cell phones, powerlines, cell phone towers, cordless phones, TV, computers, hairdryers, Wi-Fi, microwaves, and Bluetooth.
It is now more important than ever to spend some time outdoors barefoot on the grass and dirt (earthing) and to seek out the appropriate earth based frequencies such as PEMF because of our decreased natural exposure to the good frequencies and our increased exposure to the unnatural frequencies.
Some of the proven beneficial effects of PEMF therapy include
- Decreased pain
- Decreased inflammation
- Increased blood flow to the cells
- Reestablished normal cellular interaction
- Increased energy
- Increased healing
- Better brain function
- Better immune system function
- Improved quality of sleep
If you are interested in PEMF therapy, I am happy to recommend a few modalities and brands that I trust.