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Do Electronic Muscle Stimulators Build Muscle?

While most people want to get in shape and build muscle, there are relatively few who enjoy exercise and diet. It's because of the desire to get the results without doing the work that fad diets and exercise programs promise---fast results with little work make so much money. One of these latest fads, electronic muscle stimulators, has been offered as a way to firm and tone muscle without having to work.

  1. EMS

    • EMS stands for electronic muscle stimulator. This machine is placed against the skin, and it uses electronic current to make muscles contract. Since this process is fairly comparable with the effects of exercise, at least on the surface, most people don't question claims that EMSs can indeed stimulate muscle growth and toning.

    Use

    • Before they were offered to the public as a way to build muscle, EMSs were (and still are) used as a tool in physical therapy. The purpose of the EMS is to help patients regain lost or impaired muscle function and control. This is particularly true in cases where patients are recovering from an injury or suffer from muscle spasms.

    Effects

    • According to the Food and Drug Administration, using an EMS may indeed tone and strengthen muscle to a limited extent. However, the FDA also felt it necessary to state that noticeable, physical changes won't occur if a person uses only an EMS. That will only happen if an EMS is combined with regular diet and exercise.

    Safety

    • All EMS machines that are sold or marketed in the United States must pass FDA inspection before they're allowed on the open marketplace. Most of the EMS machines currently approved by the FDA are strictly for medical purposes; however, there has been a single machine used for abdominal muscles that has been approved for sale to the public.

    Cost

    • EMS machines are expensive, especially for the little results they achieve in those interested in finding a short cut to building muscle. Those who would be interested in using an EMS for muscle building or toning would be wasting their money, unless they intend to use their EMS to polish the work done with exercise and careful dieting.

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