Frequency specific microcurrent
Frequency Specific Microcurrent (FSM) or frequency Specific Microcurrent Therapy (FSMT) is the practice of introducing a mild electrical current into an area of damaged soft tissue. Practitioners claim that the introduced current enhances the healing process underway in that same tissue. Critics, such as David Gorski, call proponent's claims of the technique altering body tissue's vibrational amplitude pseudoscience.{{cite web |last1=Gorski |first1=David "Orac" |author-link= David Gorski|title=Quackademic medicine tightens its hold on the Cleveland Clinic |url=https://respectfulinsolence.com/2015/01/26/quackademic-medicine-tightens-its-hold-on-the-cleveland-clinic/ |website=respectfulinsolence.com |access-date=7 June 2018|date=2015-01-26 }}
About
Frequencies are simultaneously applied used on two channels so they intersect or cross in the area to be treated. Clinical experience shows that both frequencies need to accurately reflect the condition causing the problem (like inflammation or scarring) and the tissue being affected (like the nerve or spinal cord) in order for the treatment to be successful.{{Citation Needed|date=June 2018}}
Usage
{{See Also|Electrotherapy}}
A 2012 systematic review of physical therapies for Achilles tendinopathy found limited evidence from a single randomized clinical trial suggests FSM as an effective therapy. {{cite journal |last1=Sussmilch-Leitch |first1=Samuel P. |last2=Collins |first2=Natalie J. |last3=Bialocerkowski |first3=Andrea E. |last4=Warden |first4=Stuart J. |last5=Crossley |first5=Kay M. |title=Physical therapies for Achilles tendinopathy: systematic review and meta-analysis |journal=Journal of Foot and Ankle Research |date=2 July 2012 |volume=5 |issue=15 |pages=15 |doi=10.1186/1757-1146-5-15 |pmid=22747701 |pmc=3537637 |doi-access=free }}
Criticism
Skeptics note that FSM is another form of vibration medicine and that there is no good evidence that when a tissue is injured it takes on a “different vibrational characteristic”.{{cite web |last1=Gorski |first1=David "Orac" |author-link= David Gorski|title=Quackademic medicine tightens its hold on the Cleveland Clinic |url=https://respectfulinsolence.com/2015/01/26/quackademic-medicine-tightens-its-hold-on-the-cleveland-clinic/ |website=respectfulinsolence.com |access-date=7 June 2018|date=2015-01-26 }} In addition to the implausibility of the underlying mechanism, critics further argue that the treatment lacks a body or research neither establishing the phenomenon nor the clinical claims. {{cite web |url= https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/frequency-specific-microcurrent/ |title= Frequency Specific Microcurrent |last=Novella |first=Steven |author-link=Steven Novella |date=January 16, 2019 |website=Science Based Medicine |access-date=January 29, 2019 }}
A 1994 review of electronic devices as potential cancer treatments by the American Cancer Society found the methods to questionable, ineffective, and strongly advises against using them.{{cite journal| title=Questionable methods of cancer management: electronic devices. | journal=CA Cancer J Clin | year= 1994 | volume= 44 | issue= 2 | pages= 115–27 | pmid=8124604 | doi= 10.3322/canjclin.44.2.115| doi-access= free }}
Another criticism is that the champion of the modality is a discredited chiropractor.{{Cite web |last=Novella |first=Steven |date=2019-01-16 |title=Frequency Specific Microcurrent |url=https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/frequency-specific-microcurrent/ |access-date=2022-12-26 |website=Science-Based Medicine}}