Electric Pulse and Healing Time

[Hervé]

Electric pulse bandages dramatically reduce healing time

Sam Million-Weaver University of Wisconsin-Madison
Thu, 29 Nov 2018 01:18 UTC

© Sam Million-Weaver

Materials science and engineering professor Xudong Wang fits a new wound dressing around the wrist of graduate student Yin Long. The device stimulates healing using electricity generated from the body’s natural motions.

A new, low-cost wound dressing developed by University of Wisconsin-Madison engineers could dramatically speed up healing in a surprising way.

The method leverages energy generated from a patient's own body motions to apply gentle electrical pulses at the site of an injury.

In rodent tests, the dressings reduced healing times to a mere three days compared to nearly two weeks for the normal healing process.

"We were surprised to see such a fast recovery rate," says Xudong Wang, a professor of materials science and engineering at UW-Madison. "We suspected that the devices would produce some effect, but the magnitude was much more than we expected."

Wang and collaborators described their wound dressing method today (Nov. 29, 2018) in the journal ACS Nano.

© Sam Million-Weaver

Materials science and engineering professor Xudong Wang, left, holds a prototype wound-healing device that generates energy from body movements. Graduate student Yin Long, seated, and visiting radiology professor Hao Wei collaborated on development of the new device.

Researchers have known for several decades that electricity can be beneficial for skin healing, but most electrotherapy units in use today require bulky electrical equipment and complicated wiring to deliver powerful jolts of electricity.

"Acute and chronic wounds represent a substantial burden in healthcare worldwide," says collaborator Angela Gibson, professor of surgery at UW-Madison and a burn surgeon and director of wound healing services at UW Health. "The use of electrical stimulation in wound healing is uncommon."

In contrast with existing methods, the new dressing is much more straightforward.

"Our device is as convenient as a bandage you put on your skin," says Wang.

The new dressings consist of small electrodes for the injury site that are linked to a band holding energy-harvesting units called nanogenerators, which are looped around a wearer's torso. The natural expansion and contraction of the wearer's ribcage during breathing powers the nanogenerators, which deliver low-intensity electric pulses.

"The nature of these electrical pulses is similar to the way the body generates an internal electric field," says Wang.

And, those low-power pulses won't harm healthy tissue like traditional, high-power electrotherapy devices might.

In fact, the researchers showed that exposing cells to high-energy electrical pulses caused them to produce almost five times more reactive oxygen species - major risk factors for cancer and cellular aging - than did cells that were exposed to the nanogenerators.

Also a boon to healing: They determined that the low-power pulses boosted viability for a type of skin cell called fibroblasts, and exposure to the nanogenerator's pulses encouraged fibroblasts to line up (a crucial step in wound healing) and produce more biochemical substances that promote tissue growth.

© Sam Million-Weaver

A new device powered by energy harvested from the body’s natural motions accelerates wound healing by delivering gentle electric pulses to an injury site.

"These findings are very exciting," says collaborator Weibo Cai, a professor of radiology at UW-Madison. "The detailed mechanisms will still need to be elucidated in future work."

In that vein, the researchers aim to tease out precisely how the gentle pulses aid in healing. The scientists also plan to test the devices on pig skin, which closely mimics human tissue.

And, they are working to give the nanogenerators additional capabilities-tweaking their structure to allow for energy harvesting from small imperceptible twitches in the skin or the thrumming pulse of a heartbeat.

"The impressive results in this study represent an exciting new spin on electrical stimulation for many different wound types, given the simplicity of the design," says Gibson, who will collaborate with the team to confirm the reproducibility of these results in human skin models.

If the team is successful, the devices could help solve a major challenge for modern medicine.

"We think our nanogenerator could be the most effective electrical stimulation approach for many therapeutic purposes," says Wang.

And because the nanogenerators consist of relatively common materials, price won't be an issue.

"I don't think the cost will be much more than a regular bandage," says Wang. "The device in itself is very simple and convenient to fabricate."

This research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (R01EB021336 and P30CA014520).





SOTT Reader Comments

Woodsman about 12 hours ago

Every time low level electricity is applied for the purpose of healing or pain management, it is hailed as a miracle, "Gee Whiz! Whodathunkit??". -And then it is immediately swallowed up by Big Pharma like a brightly colored stone falling into a muddy pond. Ploop! Gone.

The first time I saw this happen was back in the 70's when the media heralded the miracle cure for lower back pain in the form of a small battery pack, minimal electronics and two wires stuck to the skin above the affected area. Miraculous! Amazing! It works! Expensive drug prescriptions binned!

And then Bayer or somebody stepped in with a big game show smile, bought up the patents from the giddy Aw Shucks inventors, (and probably dumped their bodies in a swamp somewhere), and we had to wait another ten years for some other earnest do-gooder to 'discover' it again.

Rinse and repeat.

Did you know that some forms of ye olde Chinese acupuncture involved metal pins which after applied, were set to gently rotating as prescribed necessity for full effect? As the metal shafts cut through the Earth's magnetic field, micro-charges it turns out are created and delivered to specific points in the human body.

Biology is run not just on chemicals and nutrients and aspirin, (or oxycontin).

Biology wouldn't work at all without electricity.


Highland Fleet Lute about 3 hours ago

20th Century populist remedy for toothache...

Get one AA or AAA battery. Put the positive end of the battery on the affected area. Hold your forefinger on the negative end on the battery. Leave it there for about five minutes.

[Dennis Leahy]

Very interesting. Thanks, Hervé.

I think I'll try using a "TENS" (transdermal electrical nerve stimulation) unit on a place on my leg that is healed but with thin skin.

[CurEus]

This Book the Body electric is a very good read.
Remember they used to use electric eels to heal people in Plato's day......

https://www.emfresearch.com/the-body-electric/

[onawah]

Big Pharma hasn't managed yet to swallow up TENS units, but they used to be covered by Medicaid and are no longer. They don't cost that much, though, and can be purchased online, so Big Pharma is probably not happy about that, either. The day may come when they will only be available in other countries.

Posted by Hervé (here)
Every time low level electricity is applied for the purpose of healing or pain management, it is hailed as a miracle, "Gee Whiz! Whodathunkit??". -And then it is immediately swallowed up by Big Pharma like a brightly colored stone falling into a muddy pond. Ploop! Gone.

The first time I saw this happen was back in the 70's when the media heralded the miracle cure for lower back pain in the form of a small battery pack, minimal electronics and two wires stuck to the skin above the affected area. Miraculous! Amazing! It works! Expensive drug prescriptions binned!

And then Bayer or somebody stepped in with a big game show smile, bought up the patents from the giddy Aw Shucks inventors, (and probably dumped their bodies in a swamp somewhere), and we had to wait another ten years for some other earnest do-gooder to 'discover' it again.

[/INDENT]

[Delight]

This is an interesting form of Pulsed ElectroMagnetic Field (PEMF) therapy. One small device is approved in the US for facial surgery. It decreases swelling in the area around the eye and faster healing. In the UK, PEMF is approved for musculoskeletal pain and tissue healing. It helps the cells to regain their charge and speeds healing, decreases inflammation (and decreases pain)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=CvnUFUN8GPA

For more info, look at reviews of an existing device on Amazon ACTIPATCH

https://www.amazon.com/ActiPatch-Adv...ustomerReviews

In the UK:

RELIEF FROM CHRONIC PAIN
ActiPatch® is drug and ingredient-free so it is safe for continuous use and can be used while taking any other medication. Unlike a TENS machine, you will not feel heat or vibration. In fact, ActiPatch® is completely sensation free, so the only thing you are going to feel is better.

ACTIPATCH® IS:
Drug-Free
Sensation Free
Clinically Proven
Effective for back, knee, elbow pain, tendonitis, fibromyalgia, arthritis or general muscle/joint soreness.
ACTIPATCH® IS DRUG AND INGREDIENT-FREE SO IS SAFE FOR CONTINUOUS USE AND CAN BE USED WHILE TAKING ANY OTHER MEDICATION.
https://tryactipatch.co.uk/

In my experience, PEMF is phenomenal. There are expensive devices and mats and other vehicles but it is all the same basic idea. Pulsing a frequency aand the difference is the amount of voltage and the range of frequencies of the method. The theory can be approached here;

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=YpbuylwzsVU

My dog was having chronic pain due to a narrowing of vertebrae where her neck meets the chest. I took her to an alternative vet. She introduced me to PEMF but recommended a much more expensive device for pets. I found petpatch which is the same but marketed for pets. The device is disposable though I think a skilled electronics tech could hack and install a new watch battery?

[Delight]

I am bumping this thread as IMO this technology is very very important. Some people have described it as rebooting/recharging the "human battery" at the cellular energy system which then allows the body to heal itself (as it is able to do given the right environment). This is IMO one modern artificial technology that works "better" than correlates like accupuncture because my experience is that expensive trips for accupuncture were not able to do what the ACTIPATCH I came across through research will do. When I referenced my pet:

Megan had been hit by a car years ago and dislocated her shoulder. Over the last couple of years she just did not feel like running, digging and finally when she no longer even wanted to take walks, it was a crisis. Chiropractic did not help (after steroids did not help) and when Accupuncture was not much of a help the vet recommended PEMF. WOW the small watch battery powered device HELPED in a few days. Megan was digging within 3 days. Megan now loves to run, range widely when we are walking, even jumping (a little). I use the device I bought a couple of times a week (and not all the weeks, only if I remember). I give her no other supplements or anti-inflammatories.

For those who are interested in the science behind PEMF, here is the scientist who first collected the body of scientific data and who is now working on developing his own devices.

The sound quality is low but the info is sound and helpful to me.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=LoivcdQjpmA

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=zOYkyOempyM

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=X_rsapetGwY

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=HF73Tif8loY

Here is an interview with better sound

Just to make it clear, I am not the inventor of PEMF. Though not clear from the title of this video, I make this clear if you listen to my comments from about 1:20 on this video. In ~1996 the people at NASA had asked me to optimize PEMF technology for use in their experiments. We discussed the existing literature, then I reviewed about 670 scientific papers related to PEMF which stretched back more than a century. That is when I formulated the experiment and designed the PEMF instruments for NASA, based on prior work stretching back more than a century, plus experimental groups that I added to explore areas that I thought were most likely to clear up the confusion in the literature. So I entered this field pretty late in the game. After working on contract for NASA, I subsequently had a contract from DARPA to continue studying PEMF. Specifically, this work was done on DARPA DSO contract #: N00173-01-1-G020. For those of you who like to verify the facts, I encourage you to exercise your rights under the Freedom of Information Act. This is a matter of public record.

It's important to consider that I entered the field of PEMF 20 years ago as a hard-core skeptic. I initially told NASA that in my opinion it would not work, but after our experiments the data proved otherwise, as I discuss around 8:10 on this video. My contribution to the field of PEMF, from my point of view, was to apply the scientific method strictly and with open-minded skepticism. I was not trying to find a new way to make a buck on a new product. I was not trying to take advantage by sensationalizing a poorly understood field of science. I was trying to dig down to the truth. Once it became clear, based on data from controlled, double-blind studies, that there was a clear biological effect, I accepted that fact and I changed my scientific approach to focus on the identification of those parts of the PEMF signal that had beneficial effects, separating them from those parts of the signal that have no effect or potentially dangerous effects. By doing this I have been able to reduce the energy in the signal by ~ 99.8% since my original work 20 years ago.

NASA still licenses the technology I developed for them, and I still receive royalty checks from them about quarterly. I am actively working to make the technology affordable, safe, convenient, and scientifically-based. I'm also putting together research collaborations to study the biophysics of PEMF-ICES. I am trying to raise the bar for the entire field.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=qaCGlQVaM8I

[Arn]

I was just going to say PEMF and ICES are awesome. I had knee surgery years ago, the swelling never went away. After using an ICES device for 2 months my knee never swells and the pain is greatly reduced. ICES is really effective. Unfortunately I still can't find a way to regrow my meniscus... hopefully one day

[Delight]

Posted by Arn (here)
I was just going to say PEMF and ICES are awesome. I had knee surgery years ago, the swelling never went away. After using an ICES device for 2 months my knee never swells and the pain is greatly reduced. ICES is really effective. Unfortunately I still can't find a way to regrow my meniscus... hopefully one day

In S.O.T.T. today I read this article

Chronic pain patients: The other side of the opioid epidemic
Kelly Burch
The Fix
Mon, 26 Nov 2018 14:49 UTC
back pain

[We feel] we have been betrayed: that policymakers feel that people with substance abuse disorders deserve a life and we pain patients don’t.
"It is borderline genocide," said DeLuca, 37. "You are allowing [chronic pain patients] to go home and essentially suffer until they kill themselves."

Last year, Lauren DeLuca went to the emergency room in the middle of the night, violently ill and in pain with a pancreatic attack. Despite the fact that she was passing out and vomiting profusely, DeLuca said that she received little help.

"I was essentially turned away," she told The Fix. "Everywhere [I went] I was being accused of lying, accused of making it up."

Over the next three weeks, DeLuca lost 20 pounds, unable to eat because of her pain and vomiting. Doctors, she said, were too paralyzed by the fear of overprescribing powerful opioid pain relievers to help her. Eventually, DeLuca's arteries and organs were permanently damaged by her inability to eat, halting her plans to start a family, and leaving her with lifelong health issues. Even after all that, she had issues accessing the opioid pain relief that would make her life bearable.

"I'm a continuous level 10 pain. If you don't medicate me, I'm screaming," she said.

Frustrated and desperate, DeLuca founded the Chronic Illness Advocacy and Awareness Group, first as a Facebook community and later as an advocacy organization that aims to help chronic pain patients who feel that new opioid regulations put their lives at stake.

"It is borderline genocide," said DeLuca, 37, who lives in Massachusetts. "You are allowing them to go home and essentially suffer until they kill themselves."
Chronic pain patients: The other side of the opioid epidemic

I recalled this video that I had seen. After taking Cipro for a skin infection, a DC developed acute pancreatitis. Cipro is actually turning out to be a dangerous drug for many. The DC used PEMF on himself at the hospital and then his nurse used it for her MS symptoms. The video is a SUCCESSS story from 2012 and yet the treatment is still unknown to many!

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=lWgwHvxa5Cg

In my history as an RN and observing people in general, opioids are NOT the best solution for chronic pain. In general, they are effective for acute pain. People need help with pain YES. The BIGGER issue is that there are very effective treatments including PEMF that people do not know about OR that are not readily available.

Here is an older segment from Dr. Oz

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=OtOIaDkzDa0

[onawah]

PEMF looks great. I just wish the machines weren't so expensive...and no practitioners anywhere near in my area.

[Arn]

You can always check out https://www.micro-pulse.com/. The devices are way cheaper and made by one of the original developers of the tech.

[spade]

I recall a long time ago a Minizap device right here on this forum :

http://minizap.de/html/ultra_small_blood_zapper.html