Output of Electronic Muscle Stimulators: Physical Therapy and Police Models Compared.

Abstract

Both physical therapists and police officers use electrical muscle stimulation. The typical physical therapist unit is attached with adhesive patches while the police models use needle-based electrodes to penetrate clothing. There have been very few papers describing the outputs of these physical therapy EMS (electrical muscle stimulator) units. We purchased 6 TENS/EMS units at retail and tested them with loads of 500 Ω, 2 kΩ, and 10 kΩ. For the typical impedance of 500 Ω, the EMS units delivered the most current followed by the electrical weapons; TENS units delivered the least current. At higher im-pedances (> 2 kΩ) the electrical weapons delivered more current than the EMS units, which is explained by the higher voltage-compliance of their circuits. Some multi channel EMS units deliver more calculated muscle stimula tion than the multi-channel weapons. Present therapeutic electrical muscle stimula-tors can deliver more current than present law-enforcement muscle stimulators.