FSM Rehab

This is a continuing professional development course for qualified manual therapists who hold at least a minimum level of Sports Massage Therapy qualification (UK Level 4). Your primary qualification must permit you to assess and treat pain and injury, this course is not open to holistic massage or level 3 massage therapists. If you are not sure if you meet the eligibility requirements please email our office of administration at info@ntc.ie and submit a copy of your qualification for approval.

NTC assesses eligibility for this course against the entry requirements stated above. NTC is a training provider and is not an accreditation or qualification-recognition authority. We are therefore unable to formally verify, validate or determine the equivalence, level or professional scope of qualifications awarded by other training providers or in other countries.

Where an applicant holds a qualification that is unfamiliar to NTC, we may request further information to determine whether it appears to meet the stated entry requirements for this course. Acceptance onto a CPD course should not be interpreted as formal recognition or validation by NTC of an applicant’s underlying qualification.

It is the responsibility of each applicant to ensure that the CPD course they wish to undertake is appropriate to their existing professional qualification and falls within their scope of practice.

On successful completion of the course, NTC will issue the relevant CPD certificate. A CPD certificate confirms completion of the training undertaken; it does not extend or alter the scope of practice conferred by an individual’s primary professional qualification.

FSM has changed what is possible in pain management. FSM can treat chronic myofascial pain quickly, easily and comfortably. It is one of the safest and most cost effective therapies available. Nerve pain from nerve traction injuries, disc bulges, herniations and shingles can be treated successfully by FSM practitioners. There are protocols for kidney stone pain, disc and facet joint generated pain that give rapid and often lasting relief. The protocol for fibromyalgia associated with neck trauma offers pain relief, unprecedented changes in inflammatory cytokines and hope for the millions patients who suffer from this condition.

Doctors, physical and occupational therapists, physiotherapists, chiropractors, osteopaths, acupuncturists, nurses and massage therapists have been using FSM over the past few years to successfully treat scar tissue, tendonitis, ligament injuries, nerve pain, fractures, peripheral neuropathies, chronic fatigue, irritable bowel syndrome and many other medical conditions associated with inflammation.

Frequency Specific Microcurrent (FSM) uses a device manufactured by Precision Microcurrent Inc. It has two independent channels that allow you to set both the frequency and the current independently for each channel and was developed in 1990 by an engineer named Glen Smith. He created unique circuitry that allows for long battery life and frequencies that are precise to three digits to 0.1% accuracy. Frequencies are measured in hertz or pulses per second. The frequencies are used on two channels and it makes a difference what channel you put which frequency on. The frequency thought to neutralise the condition is put on Precision channel A or on the channel that fires first. The frequency thought to address the tissue is put on channel B. There are frequencies for over 200 conditions from very common conditions like inflammation and scar tissue and mineral deposits and toxicity to very unusual and hard to document conditions. There are a few frequencies that are used as A/B pairs. A is not a condition, B is not a tissue but the combination of the two frequencies has the therapeutic effect. There is one such frequency combination that takes away shingles pain. When it is used before the blisters break out for an hour a day for three days, the pain is gone in 20 minutes and the blisters never break out. When it is used after the blisters break out it takes the pain away and shortens the course of the shingles.

Shingles is the only thing this specific frequency is good for and so far there is no one it has not worked on.

The frequencies appear to change a variety of conditions and tissues and change pain and function in a large number of clinical conditions. FSM is especially good at treating nerve and muscle pain, inflammation and scar tissue. There is a kind of fibromyalgia associated with neck trauma that is particularly painful and hard to treat even with drugs. There is one frequency protocol that is effective for taking away this kind of pain. There is one frequency combination that so far is 100% effective in a small number of cases to take away kidney stone pain. The frequencies have created observed effects in asthma, liver dysfunction, irritable bowel and many other conditions.

It has been observed that patients who are treated within four hours of a new injury including auto accidents and surgeries have much reduced pain and a greatly accelerated healing process. There are no guarantees that any protocol is going to be effective in any given patient on any given condition. In general, the frequencies either work or don’t work and if they don’t work they simply have no effect. Every practitioner is trained in the concept that FSM is to be used as an adjunct to therapeutics appropriate to their discipline for the patient after proper diagnosis. It is NOT recommended that the frequencies be used to treat cancer as this condition is too serious and too complicated to be addressed without traditional medical intervention.

Frequency protocols are sequences of frequencies observed to have a certain clinical effect in various conditions as determined in Dr. McMakin’s practice and by input from other FSM practitioners. The sequences of frequencies are taught in the course and the students are provided with a summary sheet of frequencies and the most common protocols at the end of the FSM course. The frequency to reduce inflammation was studied in an animal research laboratory at University of Sydney in Australia. The frequency reduced swelling by 62% and the medications reduced it by 45%. No other frequency tested reduced inflammation at all. The frequency worked in every animal with a time dependent response. Is there anyone FSM does not work on?

Patients who are dehydrated cannot benefit from FSM. It has been observed that patients who are dehydrated, athletes with large muscle mass and inadequate water intake, and patients over 70 who are chronically dehydrated have the most problems. Every patient is advised to drink at least one litre of water in the one hour preceding treatment. Patients who are chronically dehydrated may need more.

No technique is 100% effective and FSM is no exception. The effectiveness of FSM depends almost entirely on an accurate diagnosis. Shoulder pain can come from muscles, tendons, bursa, discs, nerves or joints. FSM will treat all of these pain generators effectively. But, if you are treating for muscle and the shoulder pain is from nerves or the bursa you may change the muscle but you won’t change the patient’s pain since it is not coming from the muscle.

FSM is delivered by battery operated device and provides sub-sensory current. It cannot be used through a pregnant uterus or in patients who have pacemakers. Patients must be well hydrated for optimal current flow and optimal results. The only common side effect occurs following treatment for chronic muscle pain when some patients experience what appears to be a detoxification reaction approximately 90 minutes after treatment. This reaction can be prevented by consumption of adequate water and an anti-oxidant supplement. There are no other known side effects or risks.

Microcurrent provides electrons and in published studies increases ATP production in cells. Lasers provide photons. There is currently no research suggesting that laser treatment increases ATP production. Lasers oscillate at set frequencies and provide beneficial results. They are doing it by some other method than frequency specific resonance and ATP enhancement.

Microcurrent is approved in the category of TENS devices determined by the U. S. FDA. TENS devices deliver milliamp current and block pain messages that are tying to get up the spine to the brain. Microcurrent delivers micro-amperage current which has been shown in published studies to increase ATP production in tissues.

Ultra sound creates ultrasonic vibrations and creates heat by vibrating the water molecules in the tissue. It does not provide current nor does it change ATP status. It provides beneficial results – it is just completely different than microcurrent.