What is TECAR therapy?

Jeffrey Tucker August 3, 2023

WE CAN ALL RELATE TO HOW WE INTERACT with environmental temperature outside our bodies. Temperature impacts how we feel and influences our mood. It can work against our ability to fall asleep or help us with it.

Hot and cold exposure can help correct non-healing parts of the body (arthritis, blood vessel damage, etc.). Cold therapy can produce a significant reduction in inflammation, while heat therapy helps clear toxins and pathogens from the body.

Modalities are at technological levels not seen or known in the past. Laser (photobiomodulation), shockwave, PEMF, vibration-percussion massage and lymphatic drainage machines can be used with manipulation and movement therapy to enhance outcomes.

Those devices are here and firmly established. Now transfer of energy capacitive and resistive (TECAR) therapy, a deep-heat therapy and high-frequency modality (diathermy), has made rapid strides forward in science and clinical application.

The modern office will measure cellular voltage and phase angle to provide cell charging (mitochondrial biogenesis) stations, including PEMF, light stimulation and body vibration (whole or local) with sound frequencies. It will include repair and recovery that speeds up Mother Nature, such as hands-on therapy along with optimization of sleep, exercise, nutrition, hydration, breathing, meditation and hormones. Combining topical (CBD, etc.) creams with equipment, such as shockwave, laser, lymph massage (physiotouch, cupping), compression massage, vibration-percussion massagers and TECAR heat therapy, will enhance recovery.

TECAR influences fascia, lipids, oxygen products, heme in hemoglobin, nitric oxide, oxidative stress elements, prostaglandin formation, and heat shock proteins and enzymes in a range of conditions and diseases.

Indications include: contusions (helps prevent adhesions); muscle strains or sprains (especially those involving ligaments, nerves, tendons and the synovial membranes); bursitis (even those with calcified deposits); tenosynovitis; chronic arthritis; disturbances of circulation (any condition that requires increased blood flow); a need to increase general metabolism; a need to decrease dense fascia; genitourinary conditions; pelvic floor dysfunction; respiratory diseases (reduces viscosity of secretions) including sinusitis; creating abdominal warmth; and inflammation of peripheral nerves (neuritis, radiculitis, neuralgia).

Your ability to guide the flow of deeper and more uniform heat (not just superficial) in the body helps direct the flow of energy (i.e., the charge to mitochondria, how well it can clear out toxins and pathogens), leading to how well the body can correct and heal itself. This is exciting therapy, and I look forward to gaining and sharing a better understanding of the biological details.

TECAR therapy serves as an alternative electro and manual therapy technique. It produces deep, penetrating heat that influences the extracellular, intracellular (aqueous component of plasma, water and fats), and fascial matrix (hyaluronic acid). It increases the circulation and oxygen in the body, which influences many reactions (i.e. water temperature, cell membranes (fatty acid), O2, nerve impulses and much more) and enhances fascial and vessel flexibility. It provides pain relief and targets specific biological requirements, such as low-grade or high-grade inflammation, and damage to microvasculature, fascia, tendon, cartilage, muscle and bone, and offers personalized treatment.

In my experience, deep TECAR heat and treatment options produce improved joint movement and address muscle and joint stiffness better than similar modalities. I had a TECAR treatment on a Friday afternoon for my back that concentrated on the thoracolumbar fascia related to stiffness and ache from a new workout routine I did on Thursday and Friday morning.

That evening, I noticed some warmth in the area that continued into the night (the sensation was deep rather than superficial). The next day I definitely noticed going further than ever into my thoracolumbar fascial stretching routine. Regaining and optimizing cell wall and vascular/fascial flexibility is the basis of proper healing and prevention of musculoskeletal injuries. A loss of fascial flexibility contributes to the development of many chronic disorders. Regaining lost motion is a priority in my practice, and I see how TECAR is helping in this goal.

TECAR therapy requires contact with the skin; it is not a “through the clothes” treatment. A variety of handheld and stationary applicator devices, such as electro pads (metal plates and adhesives), various size paddles, and even IASTM tools come with the machine. All of these generate energy that produces heat in the body. I can control what the patient feels, from very little sensation to comfortable warmth to hot. TECAR therapy provides the deepest form of heat available to the therapist and patient.

Pain is the most common symptom reported to me by patients. For my review of TECAR, I performed more than 500 TECAR treatment sessions on my patients. The majority were chronic pain patients. I used TECAR therapy with the intention of improving blood vessel health and blood flow to muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves and joints.

My goals included stimulating anti-pain mechanisms and improving lost range of motion. Overall, patient response to the treatment was overwhelmingly positive:

Heat Therapy for Blood Flow and Vessel Health — Lack of oxygen to the tissues is a very painful condition known as ischemia. TECAR therapy improves blood flow, removing acute and chronic inflammatory metabolites from injuries so the local tissue can heal. TECAR improves vascularization to soft tissues. It stimulates oxygenation, which allows neo-angiogenesis (new blood vessel growth).

It provides a drainage effect (organic fluids such as plasma, lymph, other blood components, O2 and the bone matrix), opening constricted vessels (lymph, blood, exudates, etc.), and allowing toxins to “drain” from the treated area. If drainage channels are blocked, healing results will be compromised.

Heat Therapy for Analgesia — TECAR is a pleasant tissue touch. It likely stimulates C-fibers in the superficial and deep fascia, influencing the insula (the part of the brain associated with interoception). Heat therapy is known for relaxation.

Heat Therapy for Fascia — Hyaluronic acid (hyaluronan or HA) is an anionic non-sulfated glycosaminoglycan distributed widely throughout connective, epithelial and neural tissues. The breakdown of the glycosidic bonds, leading to lower molecular-weight HA with lower viscosity, can be accomplished with heat at different temperatures ranging from 98.6-140 degrees Fahrenheit for certain periods of time and pressure. Degradation of dense fascial tissue increases with the duration of heat temperature and pressure (Ferguson, 2011).

In this way, TECAR can improve fascial stiffness, reduce muscle stiffness, and increase range of motion. I have seen the influence of fascial stretching, especially if done during treatment or soon after a TECAR session. Stretching will influence vascular health by reducing arterial stiffness. Increased blood flow can increase nitric oxide (NO) production, and the heat formation influences lipid oxidation and cell membrane interactions too.

In the future we will see more customized TECAR protocols, such as diagnosis and tissue-type specific TECAR therapy with applicator and movement instructions.

Ideally, TECAR devices can produce patient/disease-specific programs, much like what has occurred with laser therapy recommendations. Currently, very few devices provide all the information needed for a specific condition at the right temperature and dose.

Cupping techniques stimulate the lymph (immune) system; laser stimulates the mitochondria; shockwave stimulates the cell membranes. TECAR interacts highly with all of these. Don’t wait to find out more about this helpful modality.

JEFFREY TUCKER, DC, DACRB, practices in West Los Angeles, Calif. He is the current president of the ACA Rehab Council; learn more at ACARehabCouncil.org. He is a member of the Winback Academy International Committee and can be reached at DrJeffreyTucker.com. To learn more about Winback pain management, go to winback.com.

Filed Under: Chiropractic Business Tips, Chiropractic Practice Management, issue-12-2023 Tagged With: chiropractic technology, tecar therapy, winback therapy