Pain Management with MPS Therapy
Pain management is possible without causing more pain, thanks to Dolphin MPS. From c-section scars (or any other types of scars), TMJ disorder, anxiety, depression, stress, concussions and other brain injuries or neurological disorders, and just about any other chronic health condition.
The Dolphin MPS is acupuncture, but it’s not. It’s a TENS unit, but it’s not. First, let’s chat about your autonomic nervous system, pain management, and health. The two main branches of your ANS are your parasympathetic (rest and digest, healing, calming, you’re chilling out with a glass of wine and your favorite book) and sympathetic (fight or flight, stress, a bear is chasing you or you’re about to give a huge presentation in front of 1000 people). Unfortunately, most of the general population spends too much time in sympathetic and usually has a difficult time stepping into parasympathetic mode.
Have you ever been in bed trying to fall asleep? Your body is tired, but your mind is racing? That’s your sympathetic nervous system being a pain in the butt. Your blood pressure may be higher than usual, your breathing may be shallow and rapid, and you want to calm the F down, am I right?
Let me tell you about the experience I had with my friend who, when she got home from work one evening, rated her stress level as a 9. (out of 10, so not good!). After she went out and had a couple of beers, she was down to a 7, and a while later, she was still at a solid seven and in full-on sympathetic mode (upregulated and stressed out), and it was 9:30 pm. I sat her down and worked some of the parasympathetic points on her hands and feet. Five points and under 10 minutes, she sat back and said she was down to a 2 with her stress. She looked visibly calmer (and it wasn’t the beers talking, she drank those hours ago). When I checked in with her the following day, she said she slept like a rock.
Pain Management and Scar Therapy
And let’s talk about scars for a moment. The photo below is me, and that scar is three years old. The top image was before any treatment; the middle was immediately after, and the bottom was 48 hours after my treatment. I will still need to do a couple of treatments on it, but a typical scar will need 1-5 treatment sessions (of course, everyone is different).
What about C-Section scars? Whether you had your c-section 6 weeks ago or 16 years ago, this treatment can still be tremendously beneficial. It can help to:
- speed up the healing process of the scar
- relieve pain associated with the scar (such as back pain, hip pain, or as one client stated, “It doesn’t feel like there is a tight band around my hips”)
- helps the scar tissue to relax and may help it fade in appearance
While scars never fully go away, you can see in the photo above that it has the potential to decrease in appearance.
How MPS Therapy helps with Pain Management
Microcurrent Point Stimulation (MPS) Therapy is the world’s first integrative therapy developed exclusively to sympathetically DE-Regulate the ANS (autonomic nervous system) and fight chronic pain.
You may be wondering what microcurrent is and how the Dolphin MPS is different from a TENS unit that you can buy over the counter. Well, the Dolphin uses DC (direct current) electro frequency and reduces sympathetic stress by about 36%, increases vagal tone by 54%, and heart rate variability (how quickly you ‘bounce back’) by 39%. While a TENS unit INCREASES your sympathetic stress (which, remember, we have enough of already, so we don’t need more) by 4%, REDUCES your vagal tone by 31%, and reduces your HRV by 39%.
Confused? Me too, so let’s make it easier to understand:
Sympathetic stress is bad, and parasympathetic is good. Stress causes pain, and your parasympathetic system can help with pain management.
Your vagus nerve is a fundamental component of your parasympathetic nervous system, so we want to INCREASE that vagal tone because it will INCREASE your parasympathetic nervous system.
Your HRV (heart rate variability) is a measure that indicates the time between heartbeats. Say you’re sitting, minding your own business, and your resting heart rate is 60bpm, and all of a sudden, there’s that damn bear again racing toward you, so you jump up, and your heart rate should jump up with it. And your HRV is governed by your autonomic nervous system. So you want the whole variability thing, right?
And also, working with the acupuncture points with the Dolphin, we are affecting change throughout the entire body. But nothing is being punctured, so if you have a fear of needles, fear not. The unit is more like a retractable ballpoint pen, and while it might feel a little tender in some spots, that’s a good indication that it needs to be worked on. The frequency changes as it gets closer to the acupuncture points, and the unit acts as a little metal detector for your meridian lines (ironically, acupuncture points and trigger points are very similar!)
So to end this chapter, let me say this: everyone needs more parasympathetic regulation in their life, and MPS Therapy can help that. So reach out to us at Michigan Massage and Wellness to help with pain management, scar tissues, neck pain, back pain, trauma, and more.
In Good Hands,
Rebecca Tamm, LMT