PEMF therapy can help heal bone fractures more quickly, and leave your bones healthy and strong after an injury.
Healing a fracture quickly is essential so that your bones can regain strength, and withstand the stresses of your everyday life.
Fractures are also painful, so healing them quickly is crucial.
If you have sustained a bone fracture, you can support your healing and get back to your normal life again sooner by utilizing natural solutions alongside more conventional treatments.
Scientific research supports the use of PEMF therapy in the treatment of bone fractures.
PEMF can heal fractures that normally don’t mend well, can speed up recovery, and can help reduce pain.
We’d like to share with you the many benefits of this remarkable process for healing a bone fracture.
Fracturing a bone is commonly described as breaking it, but not all fractures result in a full break across a bone.
A fracture is any type of crack to the bone, and one can occur in any bone in your body.
Most people who experience a fracture have some kind of crack in one or more bones.
Your bones are very strong and can withstand immense forces, but sometimes conditions are right to cause that strong material to crack or break.
There are many different types of fractures, and they are usually described by how significantly you damage the bone, or the type of force that caused the crack.
If, for example, your injury results in the bone breaking through the skin, you have a compound or open fracture.
Injuries that do not damage surrounding tissue or break the skin are called closed fractures.
Closed fractures are easier to treat than compound ones.
Compound fractures are more likely to cause some type of infection.
If your bones are weak due to lack of minerals, a medical disorder, or from aging, you are more susceptible to fractures due to injury.
If a child fractures a bone on or near a growth plate, which is at the end of each bone, they may experience permanent damage.
Other types of common fractures include:
There are many other types of fractures that are caused by specific types of injuries or conditions.
Your doctor will be able to diagnose your specific fracture type after examination, and by looking at X-rays and other imaging.
Depending on the type of fracture you have, your symptoms may range from very obvious to somewhat confusing.
Most fractures cause significant pain, because your bones are lined with nerve endings that signal pain when they become inflamed.
In addition, the muscles surrounding the fracture may go into spasm in an effort to protect the fracture site.
This spasm may increase your pain, as well.
Bones usually bleed when they are injured, which results in swelling and bruising.
If your fracture did not result in muscle or tendon damage, you still may be able to move the bone.
Using movement or range of motion as an indicator of a fracture is not always effective, for this reason.
Smaller fractures may result in less pain and little swelling, mimicking a more-minor injury such as a sprain.
Fractures in fingers and toes may cause pain which passes quickly.
If you fracture damaged nerves, the area may feel numb.
If you injured a major blood supply nearby during the fracture, the area may feel cool and look pale.
Bones break because of some type of force that is exerted upon it.
That force can come from a fall, a blow, or repeated movements.
Any time your bone is too weak to withstand the forces exerted upon it, it can break.
Most fractures result from either:
Medical conditions, such as osteoporosis, can make bones more brittle and so more likely to sustain a fracture from even minor injuries.
Automobile accidents or bad falls cause the majority of fractures.
If your bones are healthy, they can withstand a significant amount of force, so in that case even harder falls don’t necessarily result in fractures.
As you age, though, your bones lose calcium and become weaker, which increases your risk of fracture.
Those who are more physically active are also more likely to sustain a fracture, which is why these injuries are more common in children, too.
After a bone fracture, the immediate treatment is to stabilize and immobilize the bone to prevent it from moving and causing further damage.
A splint is usually applied immediately after the injury to accomplish this.
Some fractures require surgery to stabilize the bone, address other injuries, or repair damaged tissues.
The next goal for most fractures that do not require surgery will be to ensure the bone is aligned properly, then immobilize it for an extended period to allow it to heal.
Your fracture may be splinted and placed in casts in various phases.
Right after your injury, when the area is most swollen, open splints are usually used first, as they allow for the extra expansion.
Once the swelling subsides, a hard cast or brace is usually applied – this is called the repair stage, when your bone is rebuilding tissue and regaining strength.
You do not want to reinjure the fracture during this crucial time.
While you are recovering from a fracture, your doctor will likely recommend rest, ice, and elevation.
These measures decrease swelling and inflammation, which also reduces your pain.
After a cast or hard splint is placed on the injury, your doctor can let you know the likely time frame for healing.
How long this process takes depends on the type and location of your injury and your overall health, among other factors.
Fractures to the hands and feet may be treated differently, as it is necessary to take care with these bones in order to retain their fine motor function.
Your doctor will discuss with you your options, if you injure one or more of the bones in these sensitive areas.
Between five and ten percent of all bone fractures may develop as delayed union, or nonunion.
This means the bone has difficulty healing properly, or will not heal on its own.
These types of fracture abnormalities often require surgery, which increases the risk both of further complications and of the length of recovery for the patient.
Research into more noninvasive treatments for delayed union or nonunion fractures holds promise for helping patients with these types of injuries in their recovery.
By utilizing therapies such as pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF), researchers have noted improvements in the management of these types of fracture abnormalities.
Physicians and therapists have been using PEMF stimulation to treat the delayed union and nonunion of bones for several years, but only on a limited scale.
A study published in the Journal of Orthopedic Surgery and Research aimed to assess the efficacy of this type of therapy in treating fracture abnormalities, as well as to determine factors that could lead to a more positive outcome for the patient (1).
The study participants included 44 patients who had received PEMF after a tibial fracture that resulted in a nonunion or delayed union.
In all of the chosen cases, the fracture gap was no greater than one centimeter, and no patients had soft tissue defects.
The study group analysis indicated that 34 patients achieved a fracture union after treatment.
There was no difference found in patients’ outcomes due to their age, the location of their fracture, the type of fracture, lifestyle choices like smoking, medical conditions such as diabetes, or the type of initial treatment received for the fracture.
Those who were treated using PEMF for a longer period had a higher probability of experiencing a fracture union at the end of the treatment period.
This study indicates that PEMF stimulation can be an effective method of promoting the healing of these types of fractures.
As a noninvasive treatment, PEMF could be used on a variety of types of fractures to promote healing.
PEMF should be considered an effective alternative for healing fractures.
A study published in 2004 in the Journal of Orthopedic Research confirmed the link between PEMF therapy and the function of arteriolar microvessels (2).
In this animal trial, measurements of the diameter of arteriolar microvessels were taken both before and after application of PEMF stimulation.
The resulting measurements showed an increase in blood flowing to specific areas after PEMF, indicating the therapy had a positive impact on vasodilation.
We can conclude from this study that PEMF could be used as a therapeutic tool to increase blood flow to areas where it has been restricted.
PEMF could be used in multiple ways to heal damaged tissue by improving blood circulation and widening blood vessels in specific areas.
PEMF use for sciatic nerve problems was investigated in 1993; the study yielded positive results (3).
In this animal research study, using PEMF as a pretreatment resulted in positive stimulation of the sciatic nerve.
Sciatic nerve pain can be debilitating, so finding a therapy that works could help millions of people.
Because PEMF has been proven to be able to stimulate, and improve function in, nerve tissue, it could be used as a treatment for humans who have nerve damage due to injury or other medical problems.
PEMF has been shown to have support tissue regeneration in early studies of this therapy applied to soft tissue damage.
Wound healing was improved with PEMF treatment in this study, published in the Annals of Plastic Surgery (4).
These results indicate promise for using PEMF as a therapeutic tool to treat soft tissue damage, but further research is needed in this area to confirm these results.
Bone fractures, joint problems, and disorders like tendinitis can impact your joints’ range of motion.
One effective therapy for increasing range of motion in some patients is PEMF.
A 1996 study published in Clinical Rheumatology demonstrated the effectiveness of using PEMF to treat pain and decreased range of motion in patients with cervical osteoarthritis (5).
Many of the patients in this study reported improvements, not only in their ability to move better, but also in a reduction in pain, after receiving PEMF therapy.
A bone fracture is a break or crack in one of the many bones in your body.
The most common causes of fractures are trauma, overuse, or a medical disorder that weakens the bones.
There are many different types of fractures, and they are categorized by the type of damage done, as well as the force that caused the injury.
Fractures cause pain, swelling, and reduced mobility, and most fractures take up to six weeks to heal.
PEMF is a therapeutic tool that has many applications for disorders, injuries, and diseases.
As a treatment for fractured bones, PEMF has been proven effective at healing nonunion and delayed union fractures, which also means it could be effective in mending other types of fractures.
PEMF speeds healing, helps cells regenerate more quickly, and increases your range of motion after an injury or illness.
Richard Hoover is a PEMF expert and content contributor to PEMF Advisor. With a bachelor’s degree in physics and multiple certifications in natural health programs, he is one of the best PEMF experts around.
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