In the UK, one in five adults over 50 suffer from knee pain. And back pain is increasingly common. Both are often very painful and both mean a loss of mobility, discomfort and absence from work. Knee pain is usually brought on by exercise stress or cartilage loss.
Snowden Healthcare in Nottingham are now providing devices that use vibration therapy for pain relief for both conditions. Vibration therapy is natural and is now recommended by many doctors.
Several studies have shown vibration therapy gives significant pain relief. The published study Pain Alleviation by Vibratory Stimulation by Lundberg, Nordemar & Otooson from Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm, showed vibration therapy is an effective, drug free treatment for both chronic and acute pain, and more effective than TENS.
How vibration therapy relieves pain
The Kneease and Sciaticalm devices from Snowden Healthcare generate high-frequency vibration to pass shockwaves through the skin to the affected area. It is known that pain is transmitted as impulses in the large sensory fibres of the body and by applying a certain frequency to the area of pain, it interacts with the pain impulse transmissions, causing disruption. The shockwave is effectively ‘scrambling’ the sensory impulses to the extent that they cannot be interpreted as pain signals by the brain.
Positive tests
The Kneease was tested with a large group of osteoarthritis patients in a clinical trial and the results were impressive. Many obtained complete pain relief without using drugs and almost all subsequently reduced their pain relief medication to much safer levels. There was also a reduction in stiffness of the knee joint and greater mobility which enabled many patients to take up gentle exercise and to start weight loss programmes.
Although the devices aren’t miracle cures, trials have shown that vibration therapy can allow the user to obtain significant pain relief. In the case of some patients this allowed them to both delay the need for knee replacement and to reduce their medication use.
Easy to use
Both Sciaticalm and Kneease are affordable, small, lightweight devices.
You can find out more on Snowden Healthcare’s website – www.snowdenhealthcare.co.uk.
