AsianScientist (Feb. 7, 2019) – A team of scientists in Singapore has invented a device that accelerates muscle repair using magnetic fields.
Anyone who has experienced a muscle injury will attest that recovery takes a long time. Aside from prescribing painkillers and anti-inflammatory medicines, doctors only generally recommend rest so that the body to heal itself.
Now, researchers led by Associate Professor Alfredo Franco-Obregón from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have created a medical device capable of regenerating muscles in a non-invasive and painless manner. The device, named MRegen, makes use of specific magnetic fields to trigger and amplify the biological effect of exercise, accelerating muscle recovery.
Leveraging the fact that muscle development is regulated by energy production and that energy management is extremely sensitive to magnetic fields, the researchers were able to use a unique magnetic field to activate energy production and trigger muscle regeneration. The energy produced via the magnetic stimulation ‘tricks’ muscle cells into thinking that they are exercising, hence activating them to adapt and improve at an accelerated speed.
The researchers carried out two human trials between 2015 and 2017 to test the effectiveness of their device. In the first trial, they found that healthy individuals who received ten minutes of magnetic stimulation by MRegen once a week for five consecutive weeks showed an average of 30 to 40 percent improvement in muscle strength in both legs, compared to those who did not receive the treatment.
The second human trial involved patients who had undergone anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) knee surgery at a local hospital. Ten recruited patients were given the normal rehabilitation therapy while ten other patients were given the magnetic field treatment with MRegen in addition to the rehabilitation therapy. It was observed that the patients who were treated with MRegen experienced a recovery in muscle size and strength in their operated leg four weeks earlier than those who had undergone only the normal rehabilitation procedures.
Most notably, magnetic resonance imaging measurements showed that muscle metabolism, one of the strongest indicators of muscle health and regenerative capacity, improved by up to 50 percent in the patients who had undergone MRegen’s magnetic field treatment.
Furthermore, those who received the magnetic field treatment showed no sign of discomfort or adverse consequences, proving the treatment to be a painless procedure. This medical device could therefore shift the paradigm of current muscle rehabilitation routine and make the road to recovery shorter and more comfortable for patients, said the researchers.
The team has filed a patent for their technology and has since spun off a company, QuantumTX, to commercialize it. They believe that the technology could slow muscle loss and maintain healthy muscle metabolism in the frail and elderly, as well as help maintain muscle mass in professional athletes during detraining.
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Source: National University of Singapore.
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