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Traditional Interferential Current (IFC) or Premodulated (PREMOD) IFC for Pain Relief

Written by ACP | Dec 8, 2018 5:14:35 PM

IFC has been shown to be effective for treating multiple types of pain in locations throughout the body.1,2 Both traditional IFC and PREMOD IFC can be done at sensory and motor levels. Sensory settings provide segmental pain relief that is fast-acting and lasts for several hours. Motor stimulation tends to be slower-acting, but may relieve pain for up to 8 hours via segmental and systemic pain modulation. Available options in the OmniStim® Pro and OmniVersa® electrical stimulation devices include:

  • Sensory – Indicated for acute pain or when the patient is taking opioid medications
  • Motor – Indicated for chronic pain
  • Sequential (Mixed) Pain Modulation – A combination of sensory and motor frequencies
    • Sensory Motor – Acute and Subacute pain, when motor is not well tolerated; sensory 10 min → motor 20 min
    • Motor Sensory – When weaning off pain medication, releases endorphins; 5 min twitch motor → 15 min motor → 10 min sensory
    • Sequential – Continually cycles through motor and sensory frequencies, every 15 seconds, reducing accommodation

Traditional IFC

 

• Two channels are crossed and interference within the tissues creates a vector

• The vector can be adjusted for degree of sweep (45° or 90°) and speed (fast = 10 seconds or slow = 60 seconds)

 

PREMOD IFC

• Two medium frequencies are crossed within the machine
• A single channel with two electrodes (Image A)
• Two channels, not crossed, with four electrodes; no vector is created (Image B)

 

References:
1. Rajfur J, Pasternok M, Rajfur K, Fras B, Bolach B, Dymarek R, Rosinczuk J, Halski T, Taradaj J: Efficiency of Selected electrical Therapies on Chronic Low Back Pain:
A Comparative Clinical Pilot Study. Med Sci Monit, 2017:23:85-100.
2. Zeng C, LI H, Yang T, Deng ZH, ZHang Y, Lei GH: Electrical Stimulation for Pain Relief in Knee Osteoarthritis: Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis. Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, 2015;23:189-202.