The Amazing, Incredible Electro-Stim

Came home the other day and there was my wife - comfortably seated on the couch and reading a book - - with six little pads hooked up to various parts of her body! What the…??

This was my welcome to the incredible world of electro-stimulation. There were two pads attached to her abdomen, and another two attached to her biceps and triceps. There were wires going all over the place, and they were all hooked up to a small box with several knobs and flashing lights that was placed next to my wife.

I thought I walked into a scene from a cheap sci-fi flick. “What the heck is all that?” I asked. “Isn’t this great, dear?” replied my wife. “It’s the amazing new Electro-Stim!”. And then she went on to give me 10 minutes of running commentary on how the principals of electronic-stimulation are performing the equivalent of 60 minutes at the gym. Thanks to the wonders of electro-stimulation, electronic impulses were coursing through my wife’s abs and her arms and giving her a complete workout, even though she was on the couch reading a book!

I’m not entirely convinced that this gadget does what it boasts. I do know that the lights on the mother-box were blinking away and her abs, biceps and triceps were doing some weird involuntary twitching. “Are you sure that doesn’t hurt…?” was the only thing I could think to ask her.

Perhaps you’ve seen these things before. I’m not sure if they are that popular in the United States, but in Europe (and Italy in particular) you’d think someone just invented the wheel. Every time I switch a channel I see one of these gadgets being pushed on television. I’ve seen them in magazines. This particular model of electro-stimulation has 6 electrode-pads, but I’ve seen models advertised with as little as four and as many as eight or ten. But do they work?? I have been raised to believe that sending electricity through your body – in any shape or form tends to be a bad thing. (At least that was my impression after getting zapped while standing under a tree in a thunder storm).