Intramuscular Stimulation (IMS)

IMS is a deeper needling technique that helps to reduce muscle tightness that manifests as chronic pain and poor muscle function. Often when tissue has been damaged, the nervous system responds by contracting the muscle. The normal signal, from the peripheral nervous system, to fully relax the muscle does not arrive and the muscle becomes chronically hyper tensed causing poor joint mobility, tenderness, inflammation and pain. A needle is inserted into tight muscle bands, or trigger points, to ‘re-start’ the nerve control of the muscle tissue and promote a relaxation reflex.

To learn more about IMS and how it works on the body, read this paper written by Dr. Chan Gunn, the President of The Institute for the Study and Treatment of Pain (iSTOP) in Vancouver, BC.