THE SCIENCE BEHIND EMS
EMS has been widely researched in academic studies and clinical trials around the world. Parameters tested have ranged from athletic performance and recovery to weight loss and bone density, with study subjects including sedentary non-exercisers, seniors and rehabilitation users right through to regular exercisers and elite athletes. In all cases, EMS was shown to have measurable benefits. Here are just a few examples.
ENERGY EXPENDITURE
A 2012 study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that energy expenditure was 17% higher among subjects who performed dynamic low-intensity resistance exercise using EMS compared to those who performed exercises without EMS.
ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE
A 2016 study of elite soccer players, published in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, found that a 14-week program of whole-body EMS training significantly enhanced players’ leg strength, sprinting and vertical jumping performance compared to those who underwent a jump training program without EMS.
LOWER BACK PAIN
A 2017 meta-analysis in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine found EMS to be effective in reducing lower back pain in older adults, with significant improvements in both pain intensity and pain frequency.
MUSCLE MASS AND ABDOMINAL FAT
A 2013 study published in Clinical Interventions in Aging found that 12 months of whole-body EMS exercise increased muscle mass and reduced abdominal body fat in inactive elderly women more than 12 months of an intermittent exercise program.
OBESITY
A 2018 study in BMC Geriatrics found that combining EMS with whey protein supplementation reduced total body fat, waist circumference and overall cardiometabolic risk among obese older men.
BONE DENSITY
A 2014 study published in the Journal of Osteoporosis found that whole-body EMS increased bone mineral density and lean body mass among elderly women who undertook a 12-month EMS training program more than a control group who undertook a non-EMS exercise program.