Compex for activating muscles rehab?

[dpk501]

After 1.5 years of trying to recover from separate back problems and pirformis I am considering all, ahem, marginal gains. So no biking and a life of constant pain is not fun.

As anyone had recent experience with compex for reactivating muscles to engage correctly and to also build some strength to help further my PT rehab?

Please no comments about just doing glute exercises. That is an essential part of treatment. It's frustrating when the muscle won't fire and you feel like Uma Thurman in Kill Bill trying to wiggle her toe.

Thanks

[Wayne77]

Bumping this. I'm working on VMO recovery to alleviate some patellar tracking and Max Testa recommended this. I'm also interested in the claimed muscle recovery and conditioning uses..

Anyone with experience with this or similar devices? Globus makes one as well.

https://www.compexusa.com/compex-performance-muscle-stimulator-tactical-white.html

http://www.globuscorporation.com/sportfitnesswellness/eng/premium-200-1239.asp

[parallelfish]

I have had good results with the same issues following the exercise routines in "Tom Danielson's Core Advantage". A lot of focus on getting muscles to fire in the proper order. Surprisingly the book warns against cyclists doing specific abdominal exercises.

The "Falling on the pedals" thread in this forum was also helpful.

You might also consider the Marc Pro unit. I use it for muscle recovery, and on occasion for pain relief.

[Wayne77]

Thanks for the info. I'll definitely check out that book.

[evo111@comcast.net]

How is your flexibility? I had very little flexibility around the hip joints and the piriformis. Worked with a therapist on fascial and muscle release techniques and lots of stretching. Things got much better. I'm still slow but no back or leg pain. Hope this helps - Good luck.

[hobbanero]

I have been using a compex for lower back issues. In terms of muscle function, a stimulator activates the muscle fibers, so the muscle gets a "workout", but you are not activating the neural pathways from the brain that get the muscles to fire in "real life". So you can't just rely on the compex for muscle activation, but you can do some exercises and then use the compex to augment those.

Thought of simply.....you can do a month of e-stim and develop a muscle, but if you don't have a neural pathway for the motion you are looking for, you cannot take advantage of the increased strength.

There is some early work for e-stim on stroke recovery that basically uses this approach--using the stimulator to enhance physical therapy.

[dpk501]

How is your flexibility? I had very little flexibility around the hip joints and the piriformis. Worked with a therapist on fascial and muscle release techniques and lots of stretching. Things got much better. I'm still slow but no back or leg pain. Hope this helps - Good luck.

Flexibility is pretty limited these days but working on it. i do look forward to days where the fascia gets worked on to get some relief.

[dpk501]

I have been using a compex for lower back issues. In terms of muscle function, a stimulator activates the muscle fibers, so the muscle gets a "workout", but you are not activating the neural pathways from the brain that get the muscles to fire in "real life". So you can't just rely on the compex for muscle activation, but you can do some exercises and then use the compex to augment those.

Thought of simply.....you can do a month of e-stim and develop a muscle, but if you don't have a neural pathway for the motion you are looking for, you cannot take advantage of the increased strength.

There is some early work for e-stim on stroke recovery that basically uses this approach--using the stimulator to enhance physical therapy.

Good to know. It sounds like using them during my exercises would be the best bet to get neural engagement. Thanks