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Meta-Analysis
. 2019 Apr 24;19(1):87.
doi: 10.1186/s12906-019-2485-9.

Effects of whole-body ELECTROMYOSTIMULATION on health and performance: a systematic review

Alvaro Pano-Rodriguez  1 , Jose Vicente Beltran-Garrido  2 , Vicenç Hernández-González  3 , Joaquim Reverter-Masia  3
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Effects of whole-body ELECTROMYOSTIMULATION on health and performance: a systematic review

Alvaro Pano-Rodriguez et al. BMC Complement Altern Med. .

Abstract

Background: Whole-body electrical myostimulation (WB-EMS) is a relatively recent training methodology that has been extraordinarily used in recent years. However, there is a lack of consensus on the effectiveness of WB-EMS in the situations in which its use has been largely popularized. The objective of this systematic review was to determine the effects produced by WB-EMS.

Methods: A search of PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and Cochrane was performed to identify all the studies that have applied electrical stimulation in lower and upper limbs simultaneously and that have clearly presented their protocols for the training and application of the stimulation. The last search was performed on September 9, 2018. Studies written in English or German were included.

Results: A total of 21 articles met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed following the guidelines of the Cochrane Guide for Systematic Reviews. Nineteen studies analyzed the chronic effects of WB-EMS, and 2 analyzed acute effects with a total of 505 subjects (310 men and 195 women). In total, 35% were moderately trained, and 65% were sedentary subjects. Different dependent variables were studied, such as anthropometric parameters, strength parameters, energy expenditure, psychophysiological parameters and blood parameters. There is a lack of randomized controlled studies, and the studies included exhibit a moderate to high level of risk of bias.

Conclusions: Given the limited number of available studies on WB-EMS, the scarce amount of scientific evidence found does not allow definitive conclusions about its effects; therefore, future studies about WB-EMS are necessary.

Keywords: Global-body electromyostimulation; Integral electrical stimulation; Whole-body electrical muscle stimulation; Whole-body electrostimulation.

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Ethics approval and consent to participate

As this paper describes literature-based research, ethics approval is not relevant.

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Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PRISMA flow chart. Abbreviation: PRISMA, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Risk of bias summary by item and study. Green marker: Low risk of bias; Orange marker: Unclear risk of bias; Red marker: High risk of bias
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Risk of bias graph by item. Green marker: Low risk of bias; Orange marker: Unclear risk of bias; Red marker: High risk of bias
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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