|
The San Jose Thorp Microcurrent
Team
Annie Norvelle's background
includes establishing several salons and evolving them
into saleable turnkey operations while acting as Owner/Operator. She is
a currently a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist with experience in
Weight Loss,
Phobia
M anagement , Addiction Control and Regressions. Annie is
the California
State Director and the National Media and Promotions Director for Personal Ponies Ltd.,
an international nonprofit organization which raises and trains tiny UK
Shetland Ponies for
children with disabilities. Annie is also the creator of WozWannabe and supporting
characters, designed to generate funding for children's projects. Please visit us at these links:
Jim Norvelle's bac kground
is in the Electronics Industry where he
served in middle and
senior management positions for over 25
years. He is a proven Leader
and Mentor, helping people to grow both
personally and professionally.
Jim is co-California State Director for Personal Ponies Limited.
Annie
and Jim became convinced of the
effectiveness of the Acuscope and
Myopulse while receiving treatment for Annie’s
tendonitis and Jim’s
rotator cuff injury. After diligent review of the Thorp Institute
curriculum, experience and mission, they were convinced the Thorp
Institute would provide the best possible training for Microcurrent
Therapy.
Office: (408) 268-1184
Cell: (408) 515-4613
|
After working for
21 years in the technology industry as an engineer and group manager Rocky
Kabotsky sustained severe repetitive stress injuries to his hands and
forearms from computer use, Rocky was
a patient of the
Electro-Acuscope and Electro-Myopulse treatment for the injuries in
2005. Upon seeing fa ster
positive results in just four weeks with
this therapy and having tried other forms
of therapy for the prior
two years, Rocky decided to leave the technology industry and apply the
2 1/2 years experience he had accumulated in the area of pain
management and repetitive stress injury
recovery. <>Rocky
is a trained technician in the Thorp Institute protocols for the
Electro-Acuscope and Electro-Myopulse instruments and currently has
several hundred hours of hands-on experience administering this therapy.
Ken Bergeson's background is in the glass
industry where he worked for 25 years,
operating his own business for 14 of those yea rs. Ken is an avid
athlete and participates in such sports as bicycling, swimming, and
off-road motorcycle riding. Ken's interest in athletic performance,
injury recovery, and a health-related
lifestyle inspired him to learn
more about microcurrent therapy and the Thorp Institute protocols.
Ken
is now a Thorp Institute trained Electro-Acuscope and Electro-Myopulse
technician and is presently in the process of building this new
business.
|
James
Briones ,
a certified
raw-food chef, teaches people how to incorporate more raw and living
foods in their diets. A graduate of Pacific Northwest College of Art,
he does graphic design a nd
fine art. A
chronic health condition stimulated his interest in The
Electro-Acuscope and Myopulse; treatments have helped him and he
desires to help others receive the benefits, too.
Tone Anogianakis is the Vice President of
Sales and
Training for Thorp Institute. He has gained incredible
experience since walking on board TI in
December 2004.
As a TI representative he has tr aveled
throughout
North America, Europe, and Hawaii and has over 1000
hours of treatment and instruction time
using the
Electro- Acuscope/Myopulse and Thorp Protocols.
Although he has extensive knowledge from his Exercise
Science education, his assets lie in
practical
application of training and recovery, and his personal
experiences as an athlete, coach, and business owner.
Over
the past 14 years, Tone has studied and gained considerable experience
in the physical and athletic preparation world. His love for play,
training, and people has led him down the path of assisting others
realize their true potential and total wellness through his company, OK
COACH!®. He also created ManaKids CampT, to inspire children to
discover their inner light.
|
|
Lisa Navarro is a professional
dancer and instructor, Lisa's choreographic style combines extensive
training in Jazz, Ballet, Hip-Hop, Capoeira, Latin, Afro-Brazilian,
Yoga, and Pilates. Her amazing reputation as a performer opened doors –
calling her to teach throughout the US, Italy, and Brazil, not to
mention, to work with artists such as Snoop Doggy Dog, Chaka Khan, and
Santana.
Lisa’s
passion for movement and wellness inspired her to open her own dance
and Pilates studio in Palo Alto. After hearing about the Thorp
Institute Vision, Lisa has joined the San Jose team as a Thorp
Technician Apprentice. |
|
Double
Blinds and Case Studies
A Double-Blind
Study To Evaluate Muscle Strength In athletes treated with the
Electro-Myopulse
Jack Scott, Ph.D., and Robert Picker, M.D.
Preliminary
Discussion
Both authors of this study were competitive track and field athletes in
college (Stanford and Northwestern) approximately twenty years ago, and
are still active in sports and physical fitness. Dr. Scott, for the
past fifteen years, has worked as a sport psychologist helping athletes
to maximize their performance; and Dr. Picker, using a holistic,
nutritional approach to medicine, has also helped athletes reach their
maximum level of performance. For the past year, Drs. Scott and Picker
have had a private practice together in Berkeley, California. The core
of their practice revolves around their use of the Electro-Acuscope, a
transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation instrument. They have had
over 90% success rate using the Electro-Acuscope for problems ranging
from headaches, asthma, menstrual cramps, chronic pain, tendonitis, and
a wide assortment of athletic injuries.
Despite the extraordinary success the authors have had working with the
Electro‑Acuscope. They greeted with skepticism claims that the inventor
of the Acuscope had developed a new instrument, the Electro-Myopulse,
which could significantly increase strength levels in athletes. The
authors had heard all too many similar claims during their twenty-five
years involvement in competitive athletics. However, when a ten minute
treatment with the Electro-Myopulse significantly improved a fifteen
year old injury to Dr. Scott’s left quadricep “the injured leg felt
better than the good one” the authors agreed to use the
Electro-Myopulse on several athletes they were seeing in their private
practice.
INITIAL RESULTS: Anecdotal
Background
Two top bodybuilders and the current world record holder in the
400 meter dash were treated. The following is a summary of Dr. Scott’s
experience treating these three athletes.
CASE # 1 - Bodybuilder,
Barry Morris
Barry Morris is a thirty-five year old attorney with a law
practice in Oakland, California. He has been a serious bodybuilder for
the past three years. Over a two week period, Morris received one-half
hour Electro-Myopulse treatments on his major muscle groups. Here are
some excerpts from a diary he kept at the request of the authors:
Dec 29: I received my second treatment 1/2 hour before today’s
workout. 1 did 220 lbs for 6 reps with the close-grip bench press;
previously the most I had been able to do was 4.I then did 240 for one
repetition. This is the first time live ever done 240. The last time I
tried it, the weight didn’t budge from my chest. In the same workout I
also did 3 repetitions in the seated curls with 60 lbs.; I had never
been able to use 60 Ibs. dumbbells in this exercise.
Jan. 3: Today was the first time I had my legs treated. The
treatment was right before my workout. The last time I worked on my
legs, I squatted with 425 lbs., but was unable to do 435.Today I did.
435 Ibs. and then 450 Ibs. - a 25 Ibs. increase. It’s hard to describe
exactly the subjective feelings following the treatment exclusive of
the difference in the weight I handled. Most prominent among the
effects seems to be a feeling of increased smoothness as I do the
workout, but I suspect that’s because it’s easier to handle the
weights, and therefore one can do the exercise more smoothly.
Four weeks after his last treatment, Barry had still maintained
his strength increases.
CASE # 2 -
Bodybuilder, Dennis Karp
Dennis Karp is a twenty-five year old former college football
player who recently finished law school. He’s also Barry Morris’
training partner. Dennis, like Barry, received six one-half hour
treatments spread over two weeks. Here are some excerpts from his diary:
Dec. 27: Medium heavy workout. Felt like my legs were more in the
groove. Didn’t burn out as fast. My injured knee which had been very
sore felt fine after the treatment.
Jan 2: Had that in the groove feeling again. Felt strong and
lifted heavy; e.g., 285 lbs. incline bench. I felt much stronger on all
my benches. I am impressed!
Jan. 5: Was very strong in the arms. Did a close grip bench with
260 Ibs. - a 20 Ib. increase over my previous best. Good strong
workout. My injured forearm hardly bothered me at all - seems to be
healing due to the Myopulse.
Jan 7: Treatment on my legs. They felt great - loose and full of
energy.
Four weeks after his treatment, Dennis, like Barry, had
maintained his weight increases. He also found the treatments with the
Myopulse very effective on several weight lifting related injuries that
he had.
CASE #3
- Gold Medalist, Lee Evans
Lee Evans won two gold medals in track and field competition at
the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. He is the current world record
holder for the 400 meter dash. After being retired from competition for
several years, Evans began preparing for a comeback during the fall of
1982. “Treatments from Dr. Scott with the Myopulse after a hard workout
immediately took away all the fatigue and soreness in my legs. This
allowed me to train hard two days in a row just like I did when I was
in college over ten years ago.”’ Evans commented. Three days before his
first competition race in February 1983 at the San Francisco Foot
Locker Classic, Evans badly strained his right calf during a hard
training session. “My calf had a knot inside it”, grimaced Evans. “It
was too tight to even touch. Dr. Scott treated Evans for approximately
one-half hour shortly after the injury occurred, and then gave him two
fifteen minute treatments daily for the next two days. Evans competed
in the 600 yard run in the Foot Locker Classic with no pain in his
calf. “Throughout my career I’ve received the best sports medicine
treatments all over the world, and there’s no other treatment I know of
that would have enabled me to run tonight” Evans told an ABC
television reporter moments after his race. The authors were
sufficiently impressed by the anecdotal evidence of the above mentioned
athletes that they undertook the following double-blind study.
BACKGROUND to
DOUBLE‑BLIND STUDY: The Various Methods of Increasing
Athletic Performance.
Twenty to twenty-five years ago when the authors were competitive
high school athletes, the consensus of opinion among coaches, trainers
and medical doctors was that an athlete's strength level was determined
primarily by heredity and that little could be done to significantly
improve muscle strength. Weight training was frowned upon - for the
most part - as an activity that would create muscle-bound athletes. It
was thought weight training would decrease rather than improve sports
performance. Today, it would be next to impossible to compete on the
national or international level in a sport where muscle strength is a
primary factor without the benefit of weight training. It is now widely
accepted that a properly designed weight training program can
significantly improve muscle strength and sports performance.
Professional football teams, for example have strength coaches whose
job it is to design weight training programs to increase strength and
improve performance.
WEIGHT TRAINING is a safe, non-invasive, drugless approach to
enhancing muscle strength. These features are important reasons why it
has become accepted as a natural part of the training system for nearly
all top level competitive athletes.
SPECIAL DIETARY PROGRAMS and certain drugs have been promoted at
various times as means for enhancing strength and improving
performance, but even today this remains an area of considerable
controversy. For every doctor and trainer who advocates a high protein
diet, for instance, there is an equal number who will point out the
perils of such a diet.
The most controversial strength enhancing technique widely used today
is ANABOLIC STEROIDS. While the medical community is still debating
whether anabolic steroids can actually increase muscle strength, nearly
all the international governing bodies for amateur athletics have
banned the use of steroids. But while there is still debate over
whether steroids can increase muscle strength, there is no doubt over
the serious side effects they can have on the user’s health. More
recently, sport psychologists have begun to play an important role in
the sports world. MENTAL ATTITUDE has always been recognized as a key
factor in sports performance, but only recently have special techniques
been developed that are supposed to increase strength and improve
performance. Sport psychologists differ widely among themselves,
however, and this is still a controversial area of expertise. The
authors believe the use of a transcutaneous electrical nerve
stimulation instrument such as the Electro-Myopulse is worthy of
serious study for, if effective, it would be a safe drugless,
non-invasive approach to increasing muscle strength and improving
sports performance. An earlier instrument, the Electro-Acuscope, also
developed by the same company, has proven to be an extremely effective
form of treatment for athletic injuries. It is currently used in
training rooms of professional and college athletic teams. It is being
actively used by members of every medical profession and especially in
sports medicine.
DOUBLE BLIND STUDY
THE DESIGN
The study was designed to experimentally evaluate the claim that
the Electro-Myopulse, a form of transcutaneous (sic) electrical nerve
stimulation, increases muscle strength in athletes. The authors fee
that, if it is effective in increasing muscle strength, the Myopulse
could also play an important role in helping athletes recover from
injuries as well as in rehabilitative medicine in general. It was with
these concerns that the authors undertook this study.
THE
INSTRUMENTATION: PRINCIPLES OF OPERATION
The Electro-Myopulse is designed to “communicate” electronically
with the musculature of the human body. This occurs while it is
receiving (monitoring) input, from the body and transmitting corrective
electrical stimulation. The effects are accomplished through various
equilibrium principles that are stored in a very unique, patent
pending, integrated circuit chip and other discrete components. The
instrument monitors the actual values or conditions of the treatment
area through the input electrodes which measure the electrical impulses
sent from the brain and spinal cord, to the muscles. And then by a
unique filtering and amplification process compares them to the
standard equilibrium in memory. The Myopulse then adjusts its own
output to bring the parameters monitored in the muscles to within the
optimal range.
THE SUBJECTS
Thirty subjects were randomly divided into two groups: both
groups had 15 people. One group received real stimulation, and the
other, placebo. The thirty subjects were males ranging in age from 18
to 35. lt was required that they had been working out with free
weights, Nautilus. Or Universal equipment a minimum of one hour, three
times a week for al least three months. Because of the diversity of
equipment being used by the participating athletes, and the variety of
muscle groups being treated, it was impossible to establish a universal
baseline. It is generally agreed that bodybuilders are acutely aware of
their own performance. It was requested of all participants in the
study to make careful observation of their capacity during each
workout. .
PROCEDURES
The subjects were instructed to stay with their regular workout
routine for the first three treatments and pay particular attention to
how the workout felt to them. At the completion of each of their
workouts following each of their first three treatments, the subjects
rated how that workout felt. (See Figure A.) Starting with the fourth
treatment, the subjects were told they could try to increase the amount
of weight they lifted during their workout. After each of these
treatments, the number of pounds lifted was noted and compared to their
individual norms. (See Figure B.)
TREATMENT
PROCEDURES
The subjects and the therapist administering the treatment were
both naive as to whom was receiving real stimulation. The same muscle
groups were treated in all subjects.
The subjects’ hands or feet were placed on grounding plates; a
roller electrode which completed the circuit was moved very slowly over
the muscle group being treated. Using the roller accessory with
sufficient conductive electrolyte solution at the setting of 600 (uA)
and 5 (Hz) causes no physical sensation in the person being treated by
the Myopulse.
Therefore, the subjects in the treatment group experienced the
same sensation as those in the control group. All subjects felt only
the pressure of the smooth brass alloy roller electrode gliding firmly
over various muscle groups.
Three one-half hour treatments were given weekly for two weeks.
The setting used for ail treatments given to the subjects receiving
actual stimulation was 6 cycles per second and 600 microamperes.
The same procedure was followed for the control group except the
instrument was not turned on. In both cases the LEDs and the
instrument’s auditory feedback were not perceptible to subjects or
therapist.
All of the subjects were told there was reason to believe the
Electro-Myopulse increased muscle strength in athletes thereby
improving athletic capability and that they were participating in a
scientific study to determine if this was true.
SUMMARY OF
RESULTS
All fifteen subjects in the treatment group reported significant
strength increases as well as greater case of performance during their
workouts. The subjects in the control group reported minimal strength
increases and/or performance enhancement. These results positively
support the claim that the Electro-Myopulse can improve strength in
athletes. After the first treatment all fifteen subjects in the group
receiving real stimulation were excited about how good they felt:” I
felt great; much stronger in the groove,” were comments regularly heard
from all of the subjects in this group. The fifteen subjects in the
treatment group came for all six treatments. None of the subjects in
the control group made remarks similar to those mentioned above,
although three of the subjects in this group did indicate they felt a
little better. Two of the subjects in the control group dropped out
complaining “the machine didn’t work”, before completing the six
treatments.
GRAPH ONE shows how the
responses of the members of the treatment
group compared to those of the control group in evaluating how they
felt during their workouts after the first three treatments. It is
clear there is a dramatic difference between the two groups.
GRAPH TWO
shows how the treatment group compared to the control
group when subjects were told they could attempt to increase the amount
of weight they were using during their last three workouts. Once again,
there is a distinct difference between the two groups.
In terms of spontaneous verbal response and the two evaluation
forms, there was clear evidence that the Electro Myopulse was felt to
have increased strength level by approximately 15% in the subjects
receiving real stimulation. Subjects in the control group reported
strength increases of approximately 2%.
CONCLUDING
REMARKS
There is no doubt in the authors’ minds that the evidence is
conclusively impressive. We (Drs. Scott and Picker) continue to use the
Electro-Acuscope and Electro Myopulse in combination in our practices.
We continue to see consistent results in pain management and
rehabilitation cases. We are convinced that a serious study in a more
closely controlled clinical setting would even further support the
claim that the Electro-Myopulse increases muscle strength in athletes.
It is our expressed personal opinion that the Electro Acuscope and
Myopulse in combination with weight training can provide a safe,
effective, noninvasive approach to rehabilitation and improvement of
sports performance.
|
Copyright © 2005
Empirical
Enterprise. All
rights reserved.
Media and Promotions
Contact: • Annie Boulet Norvelle
•
|
|
