My accidental fall down the PEMF rabbit hole…
I’m a lifetime horsewoman and have seen a lot of fads come and go in the horse world. The first time I ever saw PEMF, I was at a rodeo and saw someone with these big white hoses (?) on their horse and immediately rolled my eyes.
“Stupid people paying for something that doesn’t even work” I thought.
Oh, how naive I was. I didn’t even know what PEMF was (I literally thought they were hoses with water running through them, LOL). I made an assumption based on my personal thoughts on “woo-woo” stuff and that was that. I never Googled it, asked the person more about it, or considered that perhaps I was wrong.
But, oh how wrong I was.
A few years later (and after seeing more and more about PEMF on social media and still thinking it was a scam) I had my first personal PEMF experience.
My father-in-law had broken his femur and it shattered the bone off of his hip replacement pins. After many months, the bone was not healing and the doctors began to discuss amputation. He (obviously) could not have a broken bone forever.
He decided he would not accept that fate and began looking into non-traditional medicine where he discovered PEMF. He bought a machine immediately and used it religiously until his next x-ray where they planned to discuss an amputation timeline.
And the next doctor’s visit?
Surprise surprise… BONE GROWTH! The doctors were astonished. He was astonished. I was astonished. They decided to give it some more time before discussing amputation again… and (you can probably imagine where this story is going) he was able to fully heal the bone and keep his leg.
Overnight I went from skeptic to believer… but how could I believe in something so far off the mainstream!? I needed the science, the research, the actual proof that what I witnessed happen with his leg was real. So I began to do my own research and realized that I had been incredibly ignorant. Not only was PEMF not actually “off the mainstream”, but there were tens of thousands of published, peer-reviewed, research articles on the topic. I was shocked.
Why weren’t more people talking about this!? Oh… because it works (okay, okay… that’s a topic for another day - I won’t get started on big pharma today 😉). But truly, I was shocked that more people weren’t talking about PEMF.
It’s many years later now and we’re in a place in time where PEMF has become more and more mainstream, with even many traditional MDs and veterinarians prescribing it to clients.
I get so excited when I mention that I’m a PEMF practitioner to someone and they know what it is before I even get into my spiel! But even if someone’s already heard of it, it’s hard to stop me from talking about it… so let’s dive in a little deeper.
What actually is PEMF? How does it work? Why do people (and horses) love it?
PEMF = Pulsed Electromagnetic Field
A PEMF machine is creating and sending pulses of electromagnetic energy into the space around them.
These pulsed electromagnetic fields are a cellular stimulant, meaning that they have the ability to communicate with each individual cell in the body to encourage it to jump to attention, shake off the dust, and get back to work in the most optimized way.
When the body is sore, tired, or not moving well, the cells begin to get sluggish, no longer working efficiently.
PEMF provides them the energy needed to kick it back into gear and do what they are designed to do: make more energy, build and heal, manage waste, grow.
It’s not just magic, it’s science.
Once the cells receive the energy they need to work optimally, we see an impressive response in the body: increase in circulation, activation of the parasympathetic nervous system, tissue repair, and faster recovery from athletic expenditure or injury.
And the best part? It’s totally non-invasive, feels good, and requires no down time. It’s like a miracle drug, with no drugs involved 😎
I’ve seen PEMF change lives (literally) and continue to see it support the horses I work with every day. It’s a fantastic addition to my practice and something I wish I knew about years ago. I find myself most often using it on: senior horses (hello arthritis relief!), performance horses or horses in high level of work (bye soreness!), and horses with chronic or acute diagnosis like kissing spine or bowed tendons.
If you want to learn more about PEMF or the machines I use, I encourage you to visit the MagnaWave website or shoot me an email at liz@barrioperformancetherapy.com.
