Frequently asked questions

PEMF stands for Pulsed ElectroMagnetic field. An electromagnetic field affects the behavior of anything with charge in the vicinity of the field. Our bodies are electric – every heartbeat generates electromagnetic waves throughout the blood vessels of the body, stimulating tissues at a cellular level. External magnetic fields and the normal electric and electromagnetic fields produced by the body interact. So, a magnetic field passing through our whole body will have an electromagnetic effect on each of our 70+ trillion cells. As a result, magnetic fields act in basic and fundamental ways on molecules and tissues. They affect the most basic functions of all cells—human, animal, and plant included.

PEMFs can be used by almost anyone to help with almost any condition or problem. Because magnetic fields affect us on a cellular level, they are not condition-specific. PEMFs have been shown to decrease inflammation, increase circulation, enhance muscle function, speed bone healing, reduce the effects of stress, and improve blood oxygenation, among a myriad of other things. Because the NRG Pro is a high-intensity PEMF system, it is especially helpful for stubborn or deep-seated problems, chronic aches and pains, and recovery from sports performance or sports-related injuries and those problems that we want to improve quickly.

Contraindications are implanted electrical devices including pacemakers and cochlear implants, because the magnetic field may shut the device off, as would happen with an MRI. PEMFs have not been proven safe for pregnant women, though we know that pregnant women often work around MRI machines and in some circumstances get MRIs themselves. Active bleeding should be controlled before PEMFs are applied.

Put simply, if high-intensity magnetic fields were dangerous no one would be getting MRIs. Theoretical and experimental studies indicate that MRI is not harmful as confirmed by the millions of scans safely performed in the last several decades. High intensity PEMFs are routinely used in medical practice. This includes not only MRIs, but also repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation [rTMS], various muscle stimulation systems, such as the Neocontrol and Neotonus, among many others. Many of these are FDA approved indicating that there is some degree of acceptance through the conventional medical system of their usefulness and safety. There are dozens and dozens of PEMF devices on the market and they vary in intensity from very weak (measured in picoTesla) to very powerful (measured in Gauss or Tesla), so the term “high intensity” is purely relative. There are 100 microTesla in 1 Gauss. The earth’s magnetic field, for reference, is about a half a Gauss, or 50 microTesla. An MRI machine is upwards of 40,000 Gauss. The NRG Pro is considerably less than that. No matter whether they are weak or strong, magnetic fields have to be used appropriately to provide the maximum benefit. Generally speaking, the more challenging the health issue, especially associated with high levels of pain, higher intensity PEMF systems are faster, better, and longer-lasting results.

PEMF therapy is a unique therapy, in that it would be quite difficult to overdo the therapy. Unlike medication or physical therapy, both of which can easily be used or applied too much, Pulsed Electromagnetic Field therapy is considered a highly safe therapy, with few short-term side effects, and no reported long-term side effects. Because the therapy is simply supplying energy to your body’s cells, you cannot truly “overdo” PEMF therapy. You can use PEMF therapy and not reap additional benefits though—but the safe nature of PEMF therapy means you are unlikely to suffer harm or damage from utilizing the therapy regularly or consistently.

PEMF therapy has shown immense promise as a supplementary treatment option for neuropathy patients. Neuropathy, whether due to nerve damage from outside sources or uncontrolled diabetes, stems largely from a loss of adequate communication between nerve pathways in the body. PEMF therapy has been linked to improvements in cellular and nerve-based communication, both of which can reduce symptoms of neuropathy. Although PEMF therapy may not directly stimulate myelin production to repair the sheathing surrounding nerves, it can deliver energy to the body to facilitate its own natural healing processes. In trials, neuropathy symptoms improve, both in terms of pain reduction and nerve stimulation.

Although PEMF therapy has not been directly tied to weight loss, it can indirectly assist and improve weight loss efforts. The precise reason for this lies in PEMF therapy’s ability to support the body’s own natural healing processes, through improving cellular communication and function, decreasing inflammation, and decreasing pain. Many people experience increases in activity levels when pain and inflammation have lessened and sleep quality has improved. Because PEMF therapy has been tied to decreased pain and inflammation, increased mental health symptoms, and improved sleep quality, consistent PEMF therapy can act as a supplementary intervention for overall health, including components involved in weight loss.

The precise effect that PEMF therapy has on energy levels will vary from person to person, largely depending on what PEMF therapy is being used to target and how your unique body composition responds to changes in your health. If pain and inflammation are being treated with PEMF therapy, energy levels may actually increase for some, as sleep quality levels improve and energy levels out. For others, pain and inflammation treatment may result in an increased feeling of exhaustion, because someone who has dealt with chronic pain and inflammation may feel as though they are finally able to rest and relax. Individual PEMF sessions can cause a feeling of being relaxed, peaceful, or sleepy.

PEMF therapy has long been studied for its applications in healing bone and cartilage, as these parts of the body are often slow to heal (and difficult to heal), due to lack of blood flow to them. PEMF therapy has shown enormous promise as an effective treatment for bone density loss and cartilage and bone damage and repair. In some evaluations of PEMF therapy, consistent use demonstrated a dramatic improvement in bone and cartilage healing times, and the quality of regrowth and remodeling. Cartilage regrowth and repair may be benefitted by consistent PEMF therapy, though it is not usually considered the sole source of intervention. Combined with physical therapy and physical support, PEMF therapy can be a powerful therapy for damaged or lost cartilage.

Yes! Electromagnetic therapy has long been used specifically for cognitive and emotional issues, and PEMF therapy is no different. Some PEMF devices are specifically designed to be worn on the head, while others are mats or wands and can be utilized on the head as needed. PEMF therapy is used to deliver energy to your body’s cells, in order to improve cellular function and communication. Utilizing this therapy on your head can directly target issues with headaches, mental health, or even (potentially) focus issues. The only known potential issue with using PEMF on your head is using it in conjunction with a cochlear implant, which could prove damaging to your implant.

There is a solid body of evidence suggesting that PEMF therapy is an effective tool to combat mental health concerns, joint pain and degradation, bone and cartilage loss and damage, pain and inflammation, and more. Our PEMF chairs and full-body mats are designed to deliver a steady stream of energy to the body’s cells, which is then used to enact the body’s own natural healing processes. This is the power of PEMF therapy: rather than introducing foreign elements into the body to correct an imbalance or supplement a loss, PEMF therapy essentially charges your body’s “batteries” in order to help it conduct its own functions more effectively. There are countless research studies evaluating its use and various applications, several FDA approvals to target different conditions, and ongoing interest from health clinics, hospitals, and alternative therapists, PEMF therapy is a veritable powerhouse of intervention and can be used to supplement more traditional interventions. PEMF therapy does work, because it essentially delivers energy to the body’s cells, in order to support the body’s ability to conduct its own natural healing processes. If you are skeptical about the efficacy of PEMF therapy, PubMed and other medical journal sites publish a wealth of information about the intervention and what it can successfully be used to heal.

Insurance does not currently cover PEMF therapy. Because PEMF therapy is currently categorized as a wellness device with the FDA and in other health clinics and healthcare settings, insurance companies do not deem it appropriate to cover PEMF therapy services. Fortunately for people who want or need PEMF services, the therapy is not prohibitively expensive, with sessions costing as little as $30 for a thirty minute session.

MediCare coverage is often utilized as a secondary form of insurance to cover medical services and procedures that are not covered by standard or traditional insurance companies. Despite its frequent use as a supplemental form of insurance, MediCare does not cover PEMF therapy. Although PEMF therapy is backed by a slew of research studies encouraging its use and demonstrating its efficacy, insurance companies (and even medical practices) can take ten years or more to catch up to ongoing research, and many procedures and therapy techniques that have enjoyed years of scientific support continue to be considered too new or alternative to receive insurance coverage. PEMF therapy ranks among these techniques.

Because NASA is a reliable and established scientific enterprise, its study and use of PEMF therapy has long inspired people to trust the results of PEMF. The link between NASA and PEMF comes from a large study conducted by NASA regarding the efficacy of PEMF therapy in treating bone density loss, depression, and other issues associated with those working for NASA. Although NASA has not formally acknowledged its continued use of PEMF therapy, its research was vital in further promoting the study and utilization of PEMF therapy, and continues to inspire health clinics and research teams. Whether NASA still uses PEMF therapy is not certain, but NASA’s support of the intervention was made clear in its groundbreaking study.

One of the specific ailments that has seen a dramatic upswing in PEMF research studies is arthritis (both rheumatoid and osteoarthritis). Because arthritis is a complex series of issues compounded into a single condition, treatment for arthritis can be nuanced and difficult. PEMF therapy targets several of the potential issues known to contribute to arthritic pain, including bone and cartilage loss, inflammation, and decreased cellular communication. With regular use, studies have shown that PEMF therapy can combat the pain associated with arthritis, in addition to improving mobility and reducing swelling and inflammation. In this respect, PEMF therapy does help arthritis, though it is not currently offered in all healthcare settings and clinics.

In some applications, PEMF therapy has shown promise as a therapy to reduce blood pressure. Rather than being the focus of studies and treatment, however, reduced blood pressure is largely seen as a side effect or a peripheral effect of PEMF therapy used to target other issues, including using PEMF therapy as a general health support. The blood-lowering effect of PEMF therapy may not be a long-term effect, and is most prominent during the actual session. At the conclusion of a session, blood pressure levels will typically rise to normal levels. As of now, no studies exist to evaluate the long-term effect of PEMF therapy on blood pressure.

PEMF therapy has consistently been linked to decreased inflammation in the body. The reduction of inflammation is one of the key components usually identified as the source of decreases in pain levels and subsequent healing while using PEMF therapy. When used to treat a specific area, PEMF therapy has shown promise as an effective tool to speed wound healing, in part through its ability to reduce inflammation. PEMF therapy has also been linked to increased cellular communication which can also be tied to decreased inflammation. Although inflammation is an important part of healing, chronic inflammation can stunt healing processes. PEMF therapy targets chronic inflammation to speed and improve healing.

Physicians from Sapienza University in Rome have published promising results of a small prospective interventional trial using noninvasive pulsed electromagnetic field therapy (PEMF) to treat men suffering from benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). After one month of treatment, prostate volume and symptoms significantly decreased. Men with moderate-severe lower urinary tract symptoms and without metabolic syndrome benefitted more from the treatment. The study was recently published in Andrology, the highest ranked journal of andrological research. Benign prostatic hyperplasia is a common affliction of older men Most men over the age of 50 will develop enlarged prostate, or BPH. The walnut-sized prostate gland produces prostatic fluid, which is a main component of semen. It can grow to the size of a lemon by the time a man is 60 years of age and may press against the bladder and urethra. BPH includes chronic lower urinary tract symptoms, such as frequent and urgent urination, sense of incomplete bladder emptying, and decreased force of the urine stream. A common complaint is having to get up at night to urinate. Approximately 60% of men over the age of 60, and 80% of men over the age of 80, will experience the symptoms of BPH. A poorly understood disease Risk factors for BPH include age, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome. The etiology of the disease is not completely known, but inflammatory damage is the most likely cause. Inflammation triggers fibrosis and lack of oxygen to affected tissue, resulting in structural changes in the prostate. This creates a cycle of inflammation-fibrosis-hypoxia-inflammation, which in turn causes glandular remodeling and tissue growth (Berger, et al., 2003; Mishra, et al., 2007). Traditional treatment options for BPH include medications such as alpha-blockers and 5α-reductase inhibitors or surgical interventions. Side effects of treatments may include the inability to ejaculate, retrograde ejaculation (semen flows backwards into the bladder), erectile dysfunction, and even loss of bladder control. Some men affected have reported that taking saw palmetto, an herbal supplement, gives them relief but clinical evidence for its effectiveness is not conclusive. Clearly, effective and less invasive treatments for this common disease are needed. Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy and BPH PEMF consists of low frequency pulsed energy waves and has been used for a variety of ailments such as various orthopedic conditions. For example, PEMF has been shown to reduce pain and improve function for those afflicted with osteoarthritis. The electromagnetic field is produced by a device that reduces inflammation by promoting growth of new blood vessels, dilation of blood vessels, and tissue remodeling. The overall effect is reduction in tissue hypoxia. These aspects of PEMF make it an ideal noninvasive option to treat BPH (Frey, 1974; Hug and Roosli, 2012). In this regard, only a few studies have used PEMF to treat enlarged prostate. Two published studies used a desktop PEMF device to treat BPH in men with positive, but variable, results (Elgohary and Tantawy, 2017; Giannakopoulos, et al., 2011). A more recent study in 20 dogs, which also suffer from enlarged prostate as they age, found an average of 57% reduction in prostatic volume following three weeks of treatment with a portable PEMF device, without any interference in semen quality, testosterone levels, or libido (Leoci, et al., 2014). The current study used a similar PEMF device and treatment program as the dog study. Twenty-seven naive patients with BPH and lower urinary tract symptoms were enrolled. They received a battery of tests including transrectal ultrasound and standardized questionnaires at baseline. They then used a handheld PEMF device (Magcell® Microcirc, Physiomed Elektromedizin) for five minutes twice daily for 28 consecutive days. The tests were then repeated. Nine patients elected to continue therapy for three more months while others discontinued. A final health evaluation was completed at four months for all patients. “The patients were happy with this simple treatment plan, and we were very pleased that their symptoms significantly improved after only one month of treatment, without any sort of side effects,” noted corresponding author Prof. Andrea Isidori. PEMF was able to significantly reduce prostate volume after just 28 days of therapy, resulting in a median decrease of 5.4%. Symptoms also improved, with high compliance and no effects on hormonal and sexual function. There were no differences between subjects who continued therapy for three more months and those who did not, showing that one month of therapy may be sufficient for the device to effectively reduce prostate volume and symptoms. Patients with moderate-severe lower urinary tract symptoms and without metabolic syndrome (a cluster of conditions that include increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist, and abnormal cholesterol or triglyceride levels and that increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes) seemed to benefit more from this treatment. Next steps The pilot study provided promising evidence for the usefulness of PEMF to treat BPH. The decrease in prostate size was less than that attained in dogs, however. This may be due to differences between dogs and humans in the architecture of prostate tissue and growth characteristics due to BPH. Additional research with a larger number of men and a control group is needed to better understand the optimal schedule and duration of treatment, the impact of treatment on prostate tissue, and the potential use of PEMF in conjunction with traditional BPH therapies. “The Parsemus Foundation supported this pilot study in men following the successful trial in dogs, with the goal of finding an inexpensive, noninvasive method to alleviate the symptoms of enlarged prostate,” said Executive Director Linda Brent, PhD. “We look forward to partnering with other funders to sponsor additional research on the use of PEMF to treat BPH.” Berger AP, Kofler K, Bektic J, Rogatsch H, Steiner H, Bartsch G, Klocker H. Increased growth factor production in a human prostatic stromal cell culture model caused by hypoxia. Prostate. 2003;57:57-65. Elgohary HM, Tantawy SA. Pulsed electromagnetic field with or without exercise therapy in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia. J Phys Ther Sci. 2017;29:1305-1310. Frey AH. Differential biologic effects of pulsed and continuous electromagnetic fields and mechanisms of effect. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1974;238:273-9. Giannakopoulos XK, Giotis C, Karkabounas S, Verginadis, II, Simos YV, Peschos D, Evangelou AM. Effects of pulsed electromagnetic fields on benign prostate hyperplasia. Int Urol Nephrol. 2011;43:955-60. Hug K, Roosli M. Therapeutic effects of whole-body devices applying pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF): a systematic literature review. Bioelectromagnetics. 2012;33:95-105. Leoci R, Aiudi G, Silvestre F, Lissner E, Lacalandra GM. Effect of pulsed electromagnetic field therapy on prostate volume and vascularity in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia: a pilot study in a canine model. Prostate. 2014;74:1132-41. Mishra VC, Allen DJ, Nicolaou C, Sharif H, Hudd C, Karim OM, Motiwala HG, Laniado ME. Does intraprostatic inflammation have a role in the pathogenesis and progression of benign prostatic hyperplasia? BJU Int. 2007;100:327-31.

The exact amount of time required for PEMF therapy to work will vary from person to person. For example, a professional athlete may notice a significant improvement in their pain or injury after a single session. While someone in their 70's may need half a dozen or more sessions to see similar results. The condition itself also plays a role in how quickly someone should expect to see results. For example, most of our patients will see an improvement with their sciatic pain within 2-3 sessions, while someone with peripheral neuropathy may need 15-20 sessions before they see a significant change.

The cost of PEMF thearpy starts at just $30 for a 30-minutes session.