Since the mid 1990’s FSM, or Frequency Specific Microcurrent, has been gradually altering the landscape of the chronic pain treatment community and is beginning to affect quite profoundly the way chronic pain and numerous other medical conditions are being treated worldwide. Raphael J. D'Angelo, M.D., of Aurora, Colorado, is among the proponents in the medical community who advocates the merits of FSM and administers FSM therapy to his patients in his everyday practice. Dr. D’Angelo defines FSM as follows: “FSM is the application of specific frequencies of electrical current to the human body. The current is in millionths of an ampere called micro amps, which is below the threshold of sensation. In other words, the current is so tiny that the person receiving a treatment can't feel it.” (1)
“A "TENS unit" is a pocket size, portable, battery-operated device that sends electrical impulses to certain parts of the body to block pain signals. The electrical currents produced are mild, but can prevent pain messages from being transmitted to the brain and may raise the level of endorphins (natural pain killers produced by the brain).” (2)
Although FSM is neither an EMS or a TENS unit, an FSM device is licensed and approved by the FDA, Food and Drug Administration, as a form of a TENS unit as are all microcurrent devices. However, both EMS and TENS units carry an electrical charge which is thousands of times greater than an FSM unit. (3)
Dr. James Oschman, Ph.D., a biophysicist, states in his book, Energy Medicine, the Scientific Basis, that science has proven that the human cell is organized as a liquid crystal which conveys and stores current, electrical charge and vibrational information. “Every part of the body, including all of the molecules so thoroughly studied by modern science…form a continuously interconnected semiconductor electronic network. Each component of the organism, even the smallest part, is immersed in and generates a constant stream of vibratory information.” (4)
In 1991 German scientists Erwin Neher and Bert Sakmann earned the Nobel Prize for physiology and medicine "for their discoveries concerning the function of single ion channels in cells." (5) They developed the "patch clamp technique" for measuring electrical current in living cells. (6)
Once the ability to measure electrical current in cells was discovered, it was learned that diseased or injured cells carry a different current than healthy cells. Either disease or trauma may affect human cells, altering their electrical makeup and frequencies. David G. Young, N.D., explains that “when an injury occurs to a tissue, the electrons in the affected tissue take on a different vibrational characteristic, unique to that injury or other abnormal condition. As the vibrations of the electrons change, it is believed the electrons concurrently may also change to a different “orbit" from what was normal for that tissue type.” (7) Sometimes such cell alteration produces chronic pain.
FSM applies minute frequencies of electrical charge to the human body to correct those alterations, thereby relieving the pain. FSM advocate Raphael J. D'Angelo, M.D., of Aurora, Colorado, states that “Frequency Specific Microcurrent is an energy that supplies informational frequencies to our cells and tissues that will eliminate dysfunctional energies and restore vibrational normality.” (8)
Dr. D'Angelo further states “Dr. Albert Abrams in the early 1900s found very specific frequencies that had predictable therapeutic effects and is given the credit for the start of frequency specific microcurrent. Today, the Abrams Frequencies are still in use and selected frequencies have been validated in modern research studies.” (9) Those frequencies discovered by Dr. Abrams and other frequencies detected by many other doctors and osteopaths of the early 20th century are the basis for modern FSM therapy.
In the following paragraphs Raphael J. D'Angelo, M.D., explains how he was introduced to FSM:
“I was introduced to this cutting edge technology at a medical conference in 2002. Dr. Carolyn McMakin of Portland, Oregon, the leading world authority on FSM, was demonstrating its capacity to heal injured tissues. Her subject was a doctor who had a torn rotator cuff of the right shoulder that had been surgically repaired three months earlier. He had been in rehabilitation and still could not get his right arm past horizontal.”
“She put on electrically conductive gloves attached by wires to a machine that allowed her to change the frequency and current to each glove. Dr. McMakin then proceeded to place her gloved hands over his right shoulder directly in contact with the skin. She worked on different muscles, tendons and nerves over twenty minutes and at the conclusion she had his right arm easily over his head without pain! As a physician that deals with sports injuries and pain syndromes, I was convinced that this revolutionary technology needed to be offered to my patients.” (11)
Dr. McMakin is the one who applied the discoveries of all of the doctors and scientists who came before her into the science of FSM therapy thereby enabling medical treatments of countless chronic pain syndromes and other medical conditions. In our next article we will discuss many of the conditions that may be successfully treated with trigger point therapy, acupuncture point therapy and FSM therapy.
- Trigger Point Needling to Alleviate Pain
- Referred Pain? What's That?
- What Are Trigger Points?
- Managing Chronic Pain
Citations
(1, 3) Frequency Specific Microcurrent Theory, by Raphael J. D'Angelo, M.D., http://www.fsm4u.com/page3.html; Retrieved 11/3/2009.
(2) “What Are TENS Units?” From About.com; http://arthritis.about.com/od/assistivedevicesgadgets/g/tensunit.htm; Retrieved 11/03/2009.
(4) Energy Medicine, The Scientific Basis; by James Oschman, Ph.D.,
(5) The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1991, http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1991/. Retrieved 11/05/2009.
(6) Ervin Neher and Bert Sakmann, 1991 Nobel Prize laureates for physiology and med, http://www.ionchannels.org/showabstract.php?pmid=1373344&redirect=yes&terms=1991+nobel+prize+winners, Retrieved 11/5/2009.
(7) Frequency Specific Micro current - What is it and how does it work?, by David G. Young, N.D. (Doctor of Naturopathy), http://pages.prodigy.net/naturedoctor/microcurrent.html, Retrieved 11/4/2009.
(8) Frequency Specific Microcurrent Theory, Raphael J. D'Angelo, M.D., http://www.fsm4u.com/page4.html; Retrieved 11/4/2009.
(9) Frequency Specific Microcurrent Theory, by Raphael J. D'Angelo, M.D., http://www.fsm4u.com/page2.html; Retrieved 11/4/2009.
(10, 11) Frequency Specific Microcurrent Theory, by Raphael J. D'Angelo, M.D., http://www.fsm4u.com/page6.html; Retrieved 11/4/2009