APS Therapy is used for peak performance, enhanced recovery times, and fast repair of sports injuries.
Fast injury repair
Thermal image photography of a footballer’s injury taken immediately on leaving the pitch, during, 5 minutes and then 10 minutes after APS therapy, show the speedy clearing of inflammation, up the leg towards the lymph glands, allowing repair mechanisms to take over.
How does APS Therapy work for sports injuries, peak performance and recovery?
Action Potential Simulation Therapy uses the specific electrical waveform of action potentials, passed from one electrode to another, through the body’s cells. This increases intracellular communication, resulting in better circulation of blood and lymph, and the faster effective removal of waste products. It also boosts important hormones and neurotransmitters important for recovery, injury healing and performance.
Lab studies on the neurohormonal effects of APS Therapy show:
Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) : Boosted by up to 400%after APS therapy, with the subsequent enhancement of expected recovery time from exertion and injuries.
Known as the ‘energy molecule’, ATP is responsible for releasing energy from glucose in the food, providing physical energy, and stimulating & enhancing the body’s recovery & healing mechanisms.
Melatonin: significantly raised
Melatonin, the human body’s endogenous anti anxiety agent, is a derivative from the
nutritionally essential amino acids tryptophane, with sedative and anxiolytic properties. It causes local vasodilation and anticoagulation, with limitation of tissue damage at sites of inflammation due to the effects on prostaglandins and free oxygen radicals.
Leukine enkephalin: progressively increased
Effective analgesic due to interaction with opioid receptors as well as inhibition of substance P (the neurotransmitter responsible for pain transmission).
• Limitation of tissue damage at sites of inflammation and/or hypoxia.
• Increase in pulse rate and systemic blood pressure, associated with peripheral vasodilation, which results in better perfusion at the affected areas.
Beta-endorphins: significantly decreased
Interestingly, lab studies show a decrease in these ‘feelgood’ hormones, which are released most heavily in the body at times of stress or pain. However, people receiving APS often report feeling very fresh, with less depression or insomnia. Possibly other neuro-hormonal effects resulting from the therapy create less demand. Also linked:
Cortisol: unchanged but uninhibited
Cortisol levels showed insignificant and normal fluctuations during a course of APS Therapy. Whilst chronically elevated cortisol levels are counterproductive for any type of performance, short bursts of this powerful adrenal hormone are essential to release fast acting glucose into the blood stream for explosive energy in competitive sport; it also has an anti-inflammatory effect. APS therapy was found to release the inhibition of beta-endorphin on cortisol production.
References: Neurohormonal Consequences of APS Therapy Prof. Dr. J.M.C. Oosthuizen MBCHB; DMEDSCI University of the Free State;Prof. Dr. E.H. de Wet MBCHB; MMED; MD
For more on action potentials, and the benefits of boosting them using Action Potential Simulation Therapy, see Science.
APS Therapy for recovery & performance
The fast repair of injury for sports is an obvious application for APS Therapy.
The second application of APS Therapy for sports is faster recovery.
In simple terms, recovery is the time required for the repair of damage to the body caused by training or competition. This includes the restoration of the:
- energy producing enzymes inside muscle fibres
- carbohydrate stores in muscle cells
- endocrine & immune system
During recovery, muscles should increase the proteins in their overall structure to improve strength, replenish and increase energy stores and increase the quantities of enzymes to improve the lactate threshold.
The demands that athletes place on their stores and production of ATP far outweigh those of ‘normal’ life, and using an APS Therapy machine can redress the balance by boosting ATP production by up to 400%.
In competitive sport especially, optimum quality of recovery is as important as optimum quality of training.
In some sports, such as cycling, injury is less common, and APS Therapy is used more for energy recovery; for instance, by Peter Schep, 3 x Dutch Olympic cyclist.
Steve collins
Owner. Athlon Sport, Chelmsford Essex
Really works as a recovery system
“after testing the system myself
and getting my 2 pro riders to test it, we feel that it does really work as a recovery system”
Steve Collins, Owner, Athlon sport, Chelmsford, Essex
Kathryn Pollard,
Bedfordshire
Nothing seemed to sort it out, untill I had a few sessions of APS
” I injured my achilles tendon recently and it was agony. The back on my ankle swelled up like a cricket ball, and I couldn’t walk properly. Nothing seemed to sort it out, including physio, until I had a few sessions of APS. This brought it down so fast I couldn’t believe it! The colour of my foot changed back to a healthy colour and the pain subsided, I seemed to recover very quickly after that.”