If you are interested in choosing PEMF therapy has a way to improve your health or treat a specific medical condition, it is important that you know how this type of treatment might affect your body.
Following safety precautions can prevent unintended side effects or reduce the possibility of adverse reactions.
Luckily, PEMF therapy is quite safe and comes with just a few precautions for very specific conditions.
This guide explores how PEMF therapy works and gives you essential safety precautions for its use.
We also dispel some of the myths surrounding PEMF therapy, which can confuse you and make it hard to make the right choices for your health.
Keep reading to learn more about how to use PEMF therapy safely and effectively to improve your health today.
What is PEMF Therapy?
Among all the matter in the universe, every living thing, including humans, has and uses energy.
In fact, your body contains trillions of cells, and each of these emits its own electromagnetic field or EMF.
EMFs are created when energy moves, and different types of cells use different frequencies of energy to communicate and perform their necessary functions.
When you focus on harnessing and replenishing these natural stores of energy within your cells, you can restore health to your tissues and balance to your well-being.
This is why pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) therapy is successful.
Your cells can become depleted of their natural energy due to several factors.
These include aging, injury, disease, or a chronic condition.
When electromagnetic energy fields become disrupted or weak, the metabolism of the cell is impaired and the cell no longer functions correctly.
When a cell cannot perform its necessary functions, it influences surrounding cells, and over time, this can lead to tissue failure, injury, and other problems with your health.
Restoring a cell’s electrical field can enable it to repair itself.
PEMF stimulation is, therefore, a treatment option that restores cells’ metabolism and function, and this is done by simply restoring the electrical charge and natural EMF of the cell.
By using pulses of low-frequency, low-intensity energy, PEMF therapy can restore balance to your cells’ energy, restore depleted levels, and improve the health of tissues and systems within your body.
PEMF therapy is accomplished using an electrical device that passes an electrical current through a coil of copper wire.
This generates an electromagnetic field that can penetrate all the way through your body.
PEMF devices emit frequencies that are compatible with your body’s cells and does so at an intensity that is therapeutic, not harmful, to the body.
When you restore the metabolism of your cells using PEMF stimulation, they can get the nutrients and oxygen they need, they can perform all their primary and vital functions, and they can do what needs to be done to keep you healthy.
Cells with a proper electrical charge can repair themselves, can generate new cells when needed, and perform as they are meant to.
This keeps you healthy and prevents injuries, disease, and chronic conditions.
Types of PEMF Devices
There are many different PEMF devices available for the home consumer today.
Choosing among these may seem a little confusing, but once you understand the basics of how they work and what you need, it is not so complicated. PEMF devices fall into one of two basic categories- those designed to treat the whole body and those intended to treat a limited area.
Whether a device is whole-body or location-specific, it may have different variables that influence its effectiveness, which we will discuss below.
Devices that treat the entire body are generally used to address chronic conditions or to promote preventative care and wellness.
If your medical concerns related to systemic issues with a wide variety of symptoms, then a whole-body machine may be the best option.
These PEMF devices are mats, and you lay on these for a certain amount of time each day.
The PEMF stimulation is delivered to all parts of the body (or the parts that are above the mat).
Devices that treat a limited area are much smaller and use some type of pad, probe, or paddle to direct the PEMF stimulation toward specific areas that are troubling you, such as a shoulder or knee.
Depending on your issue, the PEMF device may have a special harness or brace that holds the probes in place, as well.
These are used to treat chronic or acute conditions that are limited to a specific area or body part.
PEMF therapy sessions vary in length depending on the condition being treated and the frequency and intensity being used.
Mats tend to use lower intensity for more extended periods while location-specific devices may use higher amplitudes for a shorter duration.
Each device comes with its own specifications for features, controls, and options.
Your device may emit only one frequency or a range of wavelengths.
It may have adjustments that allow you to control the intensity, as well.
Some come with a timer or have other therapies included, such as Far Infrared (FIR) treatments.
You should read your specifications carefully and study your user’s manual to understand how your machine works to heal your body.
PEMF Precautions
Now that we know what PEMF devices are, let us consider how safe they are.
After years of medical research, we know that most people tolerate PEMF stimulation extremely well and that adverse reactions are rare and generally mild.
There are only a few specific conditions that may require you to use caution when using a PEMF device, which we will discuss here.
Before beginning any new form of treatment, including PEMF therapy, you should always talk with your doctor.
You want to be sure that you understand how the treatment will affect you and your current conditions and how it might interact with known health problems, therapies, or medications.
You should not stop taking your medications without first consulting with your doctor.
When PEMF therapy beings to improve your health, you may feel better and want to reduce your dosage or stop taking your medicines altogether, but always talk to your doctor first.
Always disclose that you use PEMF therapy at home when visiting with any healthcare provider.
PEMF stimulation is not advised for anyone who has an implanted electrical device.
This includes pacemakers, intrathecal pumps, and cochlear implants, to name a few.
If you have one of these, you should never place a probe or stimulation applicator directly over your electrical implant, as the electrical field could interfere with your device.
If you have such a device and want to use PEMF therapy, talk with your doctor about the safest practices.
PEMF therapy has not been widely studied in pregnant women.
We have little data to know whether this form of treatment poses a threat to the growing fetus.
Therefore, women who are pregnant or trying to become pregnant should avoid using PEMF therapy.
This form of therapy has also not been studied on babies or young children, so avoid using it in these cases.
Because PEMF stimulation can lower blood pressure, those with low blood pressure or who take medication to lower their pressure should use caution with PEMF therapy. You may feel dizzy or lightheaded after treatment.
If your blood pressure becomes too low, it can cause other health problems.
Those with hypotension or are treated for hypertension with medication should talk with their physician about using PEMF therapy and how best to do this safely.
The most common side effects of PEMF therapy are generally mild and temporary, resolving themselves quickly after treatment ends.
You may experience some unfamiliar effects, including headache, flushing, and tingling after your first PEMF therapy sessions, but these usually resolve themselves quickly and do not return.
PEMF stimulation can influence the function of the liver, allowing it to filter your blood more effectively.
When this occurs, it can improve the efficacy of some medications, especially those to treat thyroid conditions.
If you take thyroid medication or supplements, talk with your doctor about using PEMF therapy and whether you need to adjust your dosage accordingly.
Other than these minor and slight risks, PEMF therapy is considered to be very safe and can be tolerated by the vast majority of people without any side effects.
It can safely be used with other forms of treatment, including most medications, without any problems.
It is an effective therapy that can treat a wide range of health problems and comes with minimal risk for those who use it correctly.
If you have questions or concerns about using PEMF stimulation, you can talk with your healthcare provider.
When starting a PEMF regimen, you should start slowly and use the lowest frequencies and intensities until you know how it will affect you.
PEMF Therapy Myths
When it comes to safety precautions and safety, there are some misconceptions about PEMF therapy that should be clarified.
Knowing what is true and what is false will help you make the most beneficial decisions for your own health and safety.
Below are some common myths about this alternative treatment and how to use it properly.
Myth: PEMF Therapy is Dangerous
From over three decades of medical research, there is a preponderance of evidence to show that not only is PEMF therapy not dangerous but that it is quite effective at treating many different medical problems.
In nearly all the studies conducted using PEMF therapy, there were either no reported side effects or those that were reported were minimal or temporary.
People sometimes confuse PEMF stimulation with general EMFs, which are electromagnetic fields.
These are fields of energy that are given off by most electrical devices.
You are exposed to EMFs throughout your day from a wide range of electronics and products. EMFs have been studied extensively.
In 2007, for example, the WHO reported that there was insufficient evidence to show that even everyday EMFs pose a significant health risk (1).
Myth: Only specific waveforms work for PEMF Therapy.
Waveforms are how the energy is delivered within each pulse of the PEMF stimulation.
There are diverse types of waveforms, and the most commonly used by PEMF devices are the sine, sawtooth, and square waveform patterns.
All waveforms deliver consistent and reliable intensity and frequency of PEMF stimulation.
While some waveforms have been more studied and researched than others (the sine and sawtooth being the most investigated), there is no evidence to show that one is more effective at treating cells than any other.
All waveforms deliver healing energy to your cells.
Myth: PEMF Treatment Should Be Limited to a Specific Amount of Time
In general, the length of your treatment sessions is dictated more by the capacity and function of your PEMF device than anything else.
While some conditions respond better to longer treatment sessions, others may benefit more from shorter sessions.
And when you are first starting to address a specific medical issue, longer sessions may be needed to jumpstart your healing, and these can be decreased over time.
In short, your session durations depend on a wide range of variables, and there is no known danger to longer sessions or repeated use.
Your body does not habituate to PEMF stimulation, making it perfect for treating chronic conditions.
Myth: Only One Frequency Works
This is not true at all, and there is plenty of medical research to support this claim.
Some medical conditions respond differently to different frequencies.
And depending on whether you are doing long-term therapy or short periods, you may need to adjust your frequency to get optimal results.
While there is a range of frequencies that are believed to be most effective, generally between 0-32 Hz, there is no one “magic” frequency that works for all people or all conditions.
Final Thoughts
PEMF therapy is an effective strategy for addressing a wide range of medical problems.
This form of treatment is extremely safe.
When you follow the precautions that are outlined here, you will be less likely to experience any of the minor side effects or to have any significant problems.