ELECTRO-STIMULATION INTRODUCTION.

In ancient Greece, athletes were given venison so as to make them run faster. We now know with certainty that this didn’t influence their speed. Within a few years they will wonder why, having all of the modern means at their disposition, athletes from the 21st century did not mainly use electro-stimulation to increase their performance.

It is certain that nowadays usage of electro-stimulation to improve athletic performance in various specialisations has already begun. However, it does not yet make up a part of sports training to the extent necessary to really improve both the load level as well as the rest period, in athletes of various levels. Any athlete uses the race track to improve stamina, weights to strengthen muscles, and flexibility training to improve muscular elasticity. Now, many athletes also have begun to use electro-stimulators to improve stamina, strength, elasticity and recovery after strain.

The problem raised isn’t new. This is a different type of training about which not much is known a priori; equipment is used which until now has been used essentially only in physiotherapy, for example, in the recovery of quadriceps after a cartilage operation. A specific type of current is applied to quadriceps which have been weakened after an operation, which leads to the recovery and strengthening of the muscle. This leads us to the world of sport; the technique can be used to improve the functioning of muscle groups which are used in various sports, not just to fix pathologies; it’s just one step, but it must be taken.In the beginning, it was more difficult; the equipment was too big, too expensive, the electrodes were uncomfortable and the discharges from currents, which weren’t two-phase compensated rectangular currents, produced irritations. Now, however, electro-stimulators are affordable and light, they can be moved easily, they are battery operated and are powerful, without producing irritations. These days we can improve sports performance with accessible equipment which was unthinkable just a few years ago.

To be able to improve our training with new equipment we have to understand how it works, how our bodies work, and how and where to apply the new equipment. This is precisely what our goal is; to offer the necessary information for the usage of neuromuscular electo-stimulation without risk, and with knowledge of which charge to apply, when to do so, the recuperation periods, and to which muscle group the electo-stimulation should be applied according to the type of sport.

As you absorb the exhaustive information which you will receive, you will be able to start a programme created to improve stamina, strength, and local circulation; and you will know how to do such hand in hand with active and voluntary work, so that both work together to produce an improvement in general physical condition, thereby obtaining better results with less risk and the least amount of psychological exhaustion possible.

Today, when training for a sport, the length of the competition period is taken into account and the generic, specific and competition training is organised according to that amount of time. In the same way, the trainers and the athlete must adjust to the muscular stimulation training, to improve performance and capacity for recovery. The adjustment is simple, comfortable and very profitable as, for the first time, we have before us a technique which allows us to increase the level of load of the training, with less exhaustion. At the same time, we can use recovery programmes to allow us to be, once again, ready for more training, with more energy and the knowledge that we can depend on efficient support.