Tactical X, should I buy it?

[good4good]

After doing a couple hours of research on EMS and their varied effects on the body. After doing so, I still feel like I have no idea whether or not it's snake oil. I can't quite give a reason that it wouldn't work what-so-ever, but as with all fitness related products, I am still skeptical.

I am well aware that you can't just slap an EMS on and lose weight/gain muscle. I am trying to get back into regularly exercising (became a dad two years ago), but would love to have equipment that assists me on my journey.

If you personally have ever used one for muscle gain, or if you know someone who has strong feelings about theirs, I would love to hear from you.

It's only $80, so I wouldn't feel that booty tickled if it doesn't work, but damn it would be a hell of a lot cooler if it did.

 

[dawn16]

@good4good

should I buy it?

No

 

[ljhope]

@good4good I would not. I have a tens unit that's basically the same thing. Mine can crank up high enough to make your whole body twitch. It maybe could possibly simulate a light pump, but there's no way it would actually burn enough calories to ever register on a scale. I'm not sure about any hypertrophic stimulus, but I'm doubtful. There's no resistance. It would be like doing empty-handed curls for a half-hour. You'd burn 10 calories and pump a little blood into your arm. Nothing more.

 

[nanajojo]

@ljhope Seriously, I have a TENS and love it … because I’m a chronic pain patient. It makes my pain stop.

EMS units are physical therapy devices, not for general fitness.

They aren’t snake oil in a physical therapy setting, where you’re working with a PT and can’t move the muscles you’re trying to work. My sibling on bed rest, maybe this sort of thing could reduce their muscle atrophy. But that’s a medical setting.

Just tensing and relaxing your core on your own is going to show better results and save you money.

 

[good4good]

@nanajojo Thanks for the insight! I have had multiple surgeries on both my elbows and wrists and live most of my life in pain from them not being properly healed. Do you think a TENS unit would be beneficial for something like that? Or is it strictly helpful with muscular therapy? Not really sure what causes the pain, but it's pretty intense if I fully extend my arm and try to rotate to a flat palm.

 

[nanajojo]

@good4good For treating pain, I cannot recommend a TENS unit strongly enough. They’re cheap, work for many, many types of pain, and are exceptionally low risk. My doctor recommended the TENS 7000, which is the top hit on Amazon and less than $40. You may also be able to get approved for one as durable medical equipment. (I got a DME one as a backup lest my regular brake or get lost.)

I have used mine everything from 8/10 pain and often find at least some relief from it, even if it’s just distraction.

If you get frequent use out of it, I recommend rechargeable 9-volt batteries, which I didn’t need until I got a TENS unit and was using it constantly during a flare.

I had some education on the biology of pain as part of my pain management program. What a TENS unit can do is send a “louder” signal up to your brain along the same nerve fiber trunks that the pain takes. That signal doesn’t have to be pain for it to work, either, which is the beauty of the TENS unit. You’re basically making a big show of “look over here” to your brain.

Some people do find it aggravates their pain (particularly if too close to where it directly hurts), and it doesn’t work for everyone. But you can play around a lot with where you put the pads. You don’t even need the stimulation to be near where it hurts, just for it to feed into the same pathway before it hits the brain. I sometimes can put the pads exactly where it hurts, but sometimes I need to put them off to the side.

I know people who tried it for a while, it didn’t help, and when they tried again years later, it did. So for the kind of chronic pain you’re discussing, I would put it in the toolbox and be flexible about trying it later, even if it didn’t work at first.

I use mine for a lot of acute pain as well. I’m on a boatload of meds already, and I’m all for better living through chemistry. But the less work I need to make my liver and kidneys do, the better, you know?

Heck, I have family members with dementia, and I wish they’d learned to use a TENS unit when they were younger (learning now isn’t really working). If they had, they could have something for arthritis that they don’t need to call an aide to give them.

 

[ljhope]

@good4good I think it could help. It's likely that your pain is from connective tissue and not muscular. Tendons do respond to the same types of stimulus as muscle, though not as quickly. In my research and experience, I learned that doing eccentric-only exercises under tension can help repair those injuries.

For my tennis elbow, I had to get a wrist roller and basically roll it up on the floor, then slowly unroll it for resistance because my arms physically couldn't stand the pain of flexion to roll it up.

I would recommend using both a tens unit and eccentric-only exercises.

 

[debbieelaine]

@ljhope Right

 

[debbieelaine]

@good4good Good luck, Dude. Please let me know if it does anything?

 

[cherrynapalmsmack]

@good4good do not buy is right the company is a total scam