As a chiropractic internist, nutritionist and practice owner, I’m always interested in remedies to support my patients’ longevity and quality of life.
So when a colleague encouraged me to explore TECAR therapy for women’s health issues, such as endometriosis and lymphedema, I was hesitant because I was already running a very successful practice.
While TECAR is a proven and well-respected treatment in Europe and the U.S., I was leery of expanding with a hyper-focused service. Read on to find out what I discovered instead.
If you’re familiar with TECAR therapy, you know it’s a form of low electrical-current treatment that uses electromagnetic waves to stimulate cells and tissue. It’s a noninvasive regimen supported by clinical studies and demonstrated effectiveness in wellness and aesthetic applications. While TECAR is widely used in aiding recovery after sports injuries and maladies mentioned above, it’s now making a scene in the aesthetic field due to TECAR’s positive results with anti-aging, such as skin tightening, cellulite reduction, wrinkle removal and facial rejuvenation.
What happens below the skin’s surface with TECAR therapy?
These anti-aging outcomes I’ve just mentioned sound purely aesthetic, yet the reason your skin tightens and your tissue rejuvenates is because of the longevity-boosting science that’s happening below the skin’s surface. For instance, TECAR:
- Increases blood flow to an area, delivering oxygen and nutrients to the skin
- Improves lymphatic drainage, which is good for the immune system
- Causes natural killer cell activation, helping the body fight infection and disease
- Boosts fibroblasts to produce collagen and elastin — both necessary nutrients to keep bodies strong
- Stimulates micro-circulation to areas below the skin, which positively affects blood pressure, regulates body temperature and promotes skin elasticity
- Reduces pain and relaxes muscle spasms
- Helps reduce fat deposits, which can reduce the risk of health issues associated with excess body fat
What happens above the skin’s surface?
To appreciate this answer, let’s accept the facts: Over the course of our lives, we know our skin is aging. Depending on your heredity and lifestyle, it may be aging more or less prematurely depending on certain genetic factors, but lifestyle and skin care also play a central role.
Lifestyle factors that affect the fibroblasts in your skin are sun exposure, tobacco pollution, unbalanced diet and alcohol consumption. Up until recently, if you wanted to improve the appearance of your skin, you had to consider cosmetic surgery or invasive injections. Some of the areas where TECAR shows patients great, noninvasive results, thanks to cellular and tissue rejuvenation:
- Face (treats dull complexion, dark circles, drooping eyes, thick double chins)
- Neck and chest (treats wrinkles and acne scars)
- Arms, thighs and stomach (treats cellulite and scars)
Of course, these results can be enhanced by a healthy diet and regular physical activity (30 to 60 minutes of exercise five times a week).
When you add up the positives, such as blood flow, increased oxygenation and nutrients, lymphatic drainage and fibroblast production, it’s easy to see why TECAR’s medical benefits have blended with the business of aesthetics. For instance, we might see a patient who’s working with us to lose weight appropriately and slowly. If she ultimately experiences sagging or inelastic skin as a result of her weight loss, we can offer her a safe alternative to the scalpel. In other words, we’re treating the whole patient.
The patient experience and who’s eligible for TECAR therapy
While we’re on the topic of patient safety, the TECAR instrument never breaks the skin, so patients experience a warm, comfortable sensation and often fall asleep during the appointment. That said, because TECAR therapy uses a radio frequency, patients with pacemakers, implanted electrical devices and bleeding disorders shouldn’t use this treatment. Additionally, patients who are pregnant or have insensitivity to temperature changes, burns or infections should not engage in TECAR treatments.
Results and regimen
Patients experience reduced sagging skin, improved acne scars, softened expression lines, increased blood flow, improved metabolism and reduced cellulite. Most patients require six to 12 appointments for the best results. Face, neck and chest require fewer appointments, while trouble spots like the belly or thighs require more.
Without any medication or penetration of the skin, we can facilitate changes in the short term, but like most treatments, nothing is completely permanent, and maintenance is necessary. After six to 12 treatments, it is recommended patients wait a month to repeat their treatment, allowing collagen synthesis to occur. At this point, we determine a maintenance schedule, which is usually every two months to maintain the patient’s progress.
We couple TECAR thermotherapy with other recommendations in the office. For instance, proper nutrition, better eating habits and topical treatments, such as vitamin A and E. We’ve also discovered that taking collagen supplements during TECAR therapy improves results, which is a convenience for the patient and a revenue perk for the practice.
Care for the whole patient
Implementing TECAR therapy has been a great addition to not only our care of the whole patient, but also because patients do truly care about how they look and feel. Providing TECAR treatments to our patients aligns with our broader philosophy that we want to give them safe and natural treatment alternatives. Without options like TECAR, patients might choose more invasive procedures with potentially dangerous side effects.
Final thoughts
If patients want to invest in aesthetic therapy, we prefer they do it under our care, where it can be done safely and genuinely improve the patient’s longevity and quality of life. It’s been a boost to our menu of services, not only because it’s a natural extension of what we do, but also because it’s what the patients have asked for — a win-win for patients and the practice.
CINDY M. HOWARD, DC, DABCI, DACBN, FIAMA, FICC, is a board-certified chiropractic internist and nutritionist specializing in finding the root cause of symptoms and disease. She earned her doctorate in chiropractic from the National University of Health Sciences and is in private practice in Orland Park, Illinois, where she focuses on individualized care. For more information about her practice, visit innovativehwc.com. For questions about Stopain or Protocol for Life Balance, call 708-479-0020 or email drcindymhoward@gmail.com. Want to book Dr. Cindy for your next event? Visit drcindyspeaks.com.
