The science of medical therapy is ever evolving in both the human and animal realms. Scientists work hard daily, conducting valuable research to provide us with more modern and improved technologies to help solve our everyday medical problems, thereby providing more efficient and safer means of therapy.
In this article, we will discuss Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy (PEMF), a technology that has been in existence for decades and continues to undergo improvements, and how the Petspemf Pad utilizes PEMF to provide healing, treat anxiety, pain and inflammation in our four-legged buddies.
Before we delve into this exciting medical technology, we must first visit our science books once again. Don’t worry, you will not need to be a science nerd to understand this. You just need to understand part of what it means to be alive.
Understanding Our Biology as Organisms
We see ourselves and the creatures around us as a whole but we are all composed of tiny cells that work together to create us, the organism. Our cells interact with each other every second of the day to get messages across and process everything that enters and exits our bodies. From our growth, to last night’s dinner and even stubbing our toe on that annoying piece of furniture that sticks out, our cells talk to each other so that we can function as a unit. Our cells use energy as a currency to talk to each other. This energy allows ions which are charged particles to move from cell to cell. The movement of these ions then facilitates other things to happen such as allowing the cell to eat, get rid of waste, be repaired, grow, and even die. Ions are important to cells which are then important to us and our pets because they help to keep us alive.
Now let us discuss the movement of these ions and the beauty of the electromagnetic field. Since ions are charged particles, they basically can create an electric field by simply existing within a given area. Just in case I’m starting to lose you here, I’m talking about being positive and negative.
Have you ever played with magnets when you were a child? Well just in case you haven’t, most people understand the statement “opposites attract”. Yes, that’s right, a positive charge will attract a negative charge and vice versa. A magnetic field is created when these positive and negatively charged ions/particles start to move.
Changes within a magnetic field will induce changes within an electric field and vice versa which leads to electromagnetic waves. Because ions move across our cells, they are observing some kind of electromagnetic activity. As previously mentioned, ions are important to us because they help to keep us alive by facilitating natural communication among our cells. One of the most important results of this communication is healing or repair.
Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy
This science forms the basis of Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy (PEMF) as a modern mode of cell repair and healing. Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy (PEMF) is a non-invasive heatless treatment that utilizes a device that releases waveforms at preset but variable frequencies to help our ions and ultimately our cells facilitate increased tissue repair, decreased inflammation, increased circulation, and reduced pain.
The device produces a magnetic field that induces currents to flow in nearby tissue, amplifying ours and even our pets’ body’s natural electrical activities. Extensive research has been carried out by varying institutions on PEMF including NASA. NASA, having determined an absolute need to develop effective prevention and treatment for bone loss and muscle atrophy experienced by astronauts in space, has developed a device that uses pulsed electromagnetic field to help bone healing and tissue repair. According to NASA “Research has shown that exposure of mammalian cartilage and bone tissue to tuned magnetic fields modifies genetic regulation at a cellular level. PEMF therapy relies on modulation and resonance of weak metals (ions) such as Ca2+, K+, Li+, and Mg2+ which can be made to move at the sub-cellular level when exposed to magnetic flux“.
NASA has created an instrument that uses PEMF to alleviate cartilage degradation in synovial joints by promoting new cartilage growth.
Analyzing PEMF Studies
There have also been studies demonstrating the efficacy of PEMF in treating anxiety, panic, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in both humans and mice/rats. In a study carried out on mice exposed to 100 microteslas (a unit of measuring magnetic field strength which can also be measured in Gauss) of PEMF, the mice showed decreased anxiety behavior after exposure for 10 minutes. This decreased anxiety behavior was noted to be similar to results seen when the mice were exposed to a classic medication, benzodiazepine, of which a classic example is valium.
Rats have also been found to have similar results in the reduction of anxiety levels post-exposure to PEMF. A study was carried out on adult male rats in which they were exposed to stressful conditions to induce PTSD and then exposed to PEMF therapy for 14 days. The stressful conditions included contextual fear conditioning apparatus, single prolonged stress, shock application, and test of the conditioned fear response and sensitized fear response. The PEMF-exposed rats showed a reduction in PTSD-induced failure of conditioned fear extinction and exaggerated sensitized fear. The results of this experiment are thought to perhaps be associated with the neuroprotective effects of magnetic fields on the hippocampus. The hippocampus is noted to have central importance in PTSD due to its prominent role in both the
neuroendocrine stress response and memory changes. Intense magnetic field brain stimulation has also been reported to affect monoamine transmitter functions such as dopamine. Daily exposure to 10 Hertz fields at 18-38 Gauss increased the creation of dopamine and 5-hydroxytryptamine in the frontal cortex of rats.
PEMF’s efficacy in pain management has also been extensively studied in many painful conditions such as arthritis, acute injury, and nerve tissues. Targeted pulsed electromagnetism has been shown to decrease nitric oxide production leading to decreased inflammation by activation of anti-inflammatory responses enhanced blood flow, and increased production of growth factors required for tissue repair. Two examples of human studies which showed promising results from treatment with PEMF include patients with low back pain arthritis who
had improvement in pain for approximately 90-95% of the time with PEMF applied at 35-40 millitesla and persons with neck pain resulting from acute whiplash who were treated with high-frequency PEMF at 27.12 megahertz and had significant pain improvement when compared to controls.
Now that we understand what Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy (PEMF) is, how it works, and have discussed research that supports its efficacy in a range of conditions, let’s look at the Petspemf device that has been designed for pets.
The Petspemf Pad
The Petspemf Pad comes with three programs that use PEMF to target pain relief, anxiety relief, and accelerated healing. The pad offers targeted pulsed electromagnetism to pets who can simply lie on the pad for several treatments to benefit from the electromagnetic stimulation. The pad can be useful for pets who experience painful conditions associated with minor or major injuries, osteoarthritis, fractures, and more. Many of us have senior pets with painful joints who may not qualify for long-term pain meds and could use some additional relief. Since PEMF is non-invasive and has not been associated with any known side effects, the Petspemf Pad could serve as a very useful adjunct to pain meds or other conventional therapy used to manage arthritis/osteoarthritis in older pets.
Anxious pets can benefit from the positive effects of PEMF on the brain. As previously noted, electromagnetic stimulation has neuroprotective effects on the hippocampus and has been shown to reduce PTSD. Pets suffering from anxiety disorders can receive calming stress relief therapy by snoozing on the Petspemf Pad daily. This therapy can be a helpful non-invasive option for clients worried about giving their pets drugs to help to calm them. Other owners may find that their pets benefit from combining PEMF with training and anti-anxiety meds. Since PEMF has been documented to fast tract the body’s natural healing mechanism and decrease inflammation, pets who suffer from conditions that result in delayed wound healing, swelling associated with inflammation, and poor postoperative healing can get a boost in the repair of their damaged tissues from the Petspemf Pad. We now know that pulsed electromagnetism increases blood circulation which delivers more blood flow to targeted areas of the body. This increased blood flow can allow for increased oxygenation of tissues, decrease inflammation and increase production of growth factors leading to faster tissue repair.
Your pet can relax, rejuvenate and recharge on this pad, much like how we charge up our favorite tech devices. They will be energized and happy to snuggle on the pad while the pulsed electromagnetism heals them from within, amplifying their body’s natural electromagnetism activity. The Petspemf Pad can serve as a useful non-invasive, heatless addition to traditional medical practices for pain management, anxiety, wound healing, and inflammation, and pet owners looking for newer options to help manage these conditions in their fur babies are encouraged to give it a try.
References:
- Britannica, The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia. “electromagnetic field”.
Encyclopedia Britannica, 3 Oct. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/facts/electromagnetic-field. Accessed 3 October 2022. - James L. Oschman,PHD, A Brief History of Pulse Electromagnetic Therapy, Energy Medicine (Second Edition), 2016. https://pemf.com.au/history-of-pemf-therapy/
- James S. Gaynor, Sean Hagberg, Blake T. Gurfein, Veterinary applications of pulsed electromagnetic field therapy, Research in Veterinary Science,Volume 119,2018, Pages 1-8, ISSN 0034-5288, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rvsc.2018.05.005. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S003452881830208X
- Kim Hecht, DO,Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy: A Non-Drug Option for Pain, Mind & Body, 27 May 2020, UCI Susan and Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences, https://ssihi.uci.edu/tip/pulsed-electromagnetic-field-therapy-a-non-drug-option-for-pain/
- Mohammad Ali Mohammad Alizadeh, Kataneh Abrari,Taghi Lashkar Blouki, Mohammad taghi Ghorbanian, and Majid Jadidi, Pulsed electromagnetic field attenuated PTSD-induced failure of conditioned fear extinction Iran J Basic Med Sci. 2019 Jun; 22(6): 650–659. doi: 10.22038/ijbms.2019.32576.7797 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6570745/#__ffn_sectitle
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Health Medicine And Biotechnology, Noninvasive Therapy for Cartilage Regeneration (MSC-TOPS-96) Magnetotherapy can restore damaged joints. Retrieved September 30, 2022, from NASA Science website: https://technology.nasa.gov/patent/MSC-TOPS-96
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Science Mission Directorate. (2010). Anatomy of an Electromagnetic Wave. Retrieved September 30, 2022, from NASA Science website: http://science.nasa.gov/ems/02_anatomy
- Pawluk W (2019) Pulsed Magnetic Field Treatment of Anxiety, Panic and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders. J Altern Complement Integr Med 5: 075.
About the author:
Dr. Tracey-Ann Buchanan is a small animal veterinarian who has been in practice for almost 5 years. She believes in holistic medicine and has grown to understand more about compassion being a key part of client communication to help owners when their pets are unwell.
She is currently the chief veterinarian for a prominent mobile veterinary service company in the Cayman Islands and has written many blogs on small animal wellness and patient care. When she is not on the road making house visits, she enjoys gardening and creative/inspirational writing.
