Struggling with painful menstrual cramps and searching for a drug-free solution? Electrotherapy may be the answer you're looking for - a treatment approved for relieving pain, that works for many people, and comes without the side effects of drugs.
Say goodbye to debilitating cramps and hello to a pain-free menstrual experience.
What you need to know about electrotherapy for menstrual cramps
- Electrotherapy can help with both the symptoms and causes of menstrual cramps.
- Electrotherapy is a drug-free, non-invasive option.
- Electrotherapy is more convenient and easier to fit into your life than many of the other treatment options.
Causes of menstrual cramps
Menstrual cramps, or dysmenorrhoea, can be a distressing part of life for many people, with pain varying from mild discomfort to unbearable.
The pain you experience during menstruation is caused by contractions of your uterus, which releases hormone-like substances called prostaglandins. These chemicals trigger inflammation and pain in response to the contractions.
Electrotherapy for menstrual cramps
What is electrotherapy?
You might already be familiar with electrotherapy - or electrical stimulation as it is also known - so skip on to the next section if so! But if not, here are the basics.
Your body runs (partly) on electrical currents, and they’re a central part of many processes, including how you feel pain, inflammation, healing, and more.
Using gentle electrical currents, it’s possible to target specific areas of the body with treatments specialised for these problems, providing non-invasive, drug-free therapies. Better yet, electrotherapy can be tailored to you! So you can adjust the intensity, duration, and more, to give a more refined option than all those other methods of relieving menstrual cramps you might have been told to try.
Electrotherapy for pain
So, pain. The trick to treating pain is understanding how you feel it. If you poke yourself with a needle, a signal is sent to your brain through your nervous system, where the brain interprets it and decides whether to go “ow” or “eh, not too bad”. This is a very simplified explanation, but the same thing happens for menstrual cramps.
By applying the right electrical stimulation to the painful area, you can influence the signals between the pain source and your brain and affect how intensely you feel it. Shift the needle more towards “eh” than “ow”.
Electrotherapy for inflammation
Inflammation - sounds bad, but it’s just another vital process in your body, and one that is a natural part of the healing process. Unfortunately, it just so happens that the swelling and tenderness that comes with inflammation makes you more likely to feel pain, and this is one of the main causes of pain during your period.
Certain types of electrical current, particularly microcurrent, have been shown to help regulate inflammation and promote healing of soft tissue. This means that if you use treatment programmes that have been specifically designed to tackle inflammation, then you can reduce the risk of inflammation getting out of hand AND potentially help those inflamed areas heal.
The benefits of electrotherapy for menstrual cramps
Comparing to other treatments
Using electrotherapy for menstrual cramps offers several benefits compared to other treatments, such as taking ibuprofen or using heat therapy. These methods can be effective but don’t work for everyone, plus electrotherapy has advantages in terms of convenience (try taking a hot bath with you on a night out) and potential side effects.
- Ibuprofen: You might experience side effects like stomach issues or increased risk of bleeding when taking ibuprofen, AND only around 50% of people actually find that this type of drug relieves their pain. Electrotherapy is a drug-free approach and won't cause these problems.
- Heat therapy: Applying heat can provide great relief, but it’s not necessarily convenient. Electrotherapy doesn't require any additional equipment, making it more convenient for you, and is delivered with wearable devices.
- Exercise: Engaging in exercise can help relieve cramps, but it might not always be practical or possible. Electrotherapy allows you to experience relief without needing to physically exert yourself.
So there you go. If you’ve found that nothing works for your cramps, or that you want to try something more convenient and without taking drugs, then give electrotherapy a go.
Mihna will use the latest in electrotherapeutic technology to give you treatments personalised to your situation.
What next?
If you’ve got more questions about the menstrual cycle, read our quickstart guide to learn more.
And remember to sign up to the Mihna newsletter for more advice, stories and information about menstrual health, pregnancy, sex and more.
