Did you know that, once we hit 30, our muscle mass can deteriorate as much as 3-8% per decade? And this is more evident if you’re the inactive sort. It might be why you’re finding it harder to lose weight or stay toned, the older you get.
Strength and resistance training will help but there is another way to reverse this process, with TruSculpt Flex. In fact, having a 45-minute TruSculpt Flex treatment is the equivalent of doing 54,000 crunches – without the tiring after-effects.
TruSculpt Flex is a muscle-sculpting device that uses Bio-Electrical Muscle Stimulation (BEMS) to send electrical impulses to muscle nerves. What this stimulation does is mimic the actions initiated by your nervous system which causes muscles to contract. The treatment stimulates up to eight muscle groups at the same time and at different intensities.
Not only does it strengthen muscles, it also increases range of motion and offsets the effects of muscle atrophy. This type of stimulation is often used in sports medicine for muscle rehabilitation after injury or simply to improve overall performance.
According to Dr Chua Cheng Yu from Veritas Medical Aesthetics, the TruSculpt Flex treatment is ideal for strengthening and toning abdominal muscles or developing a firmer abdomen. It is also recommended for strengthening, toning and firming the buttocks and thighs.
So how does it work? “When you do traditional strength training, your brain sends signals to your nervous system and motor neurons to contract skeletal muscle,” says Dr Chua. “However, through this treatment, the handpieces placed on your body use an electrical signal to contract skeletal muscles and engage the entire muscle group – without getting your brain involved. As a result, a repair process known as hypertrophy is triggered and releases hormones such as testosterone to active cell recovery, repair muscle fibres and form new blood capillaries.”
There are three modes pre-programmed into the TruSculpt Flex treatment, says Veritas Medical Aesthetics’ Dr Lena Fan:
- Prep – creates a twisting motion to warm up, stretch the muscles and build up tolerance to incoming muscle contractions
- Tone – contracts muscle, holds them up to the point of exhaustion and then relaxes them to increase muscle strength and enhance muscular endurance
- Sculpt – deep sequential contractions of muscle are engaged to build muscle mass and increase metabolic rate
How quickly you react to the TruSculpt Flex treatment will depend on factors such as your age, diet, genetics and current fitness level. For optimal results, do two treatments a week over a course of six to 12 weeks. You might not make your Christmas goal but you can certainly start your weight loss journey before then and be in better shape in time for the Chinese New Year festivities a few weeks later!
“The treatment is suitable for anyone except patients with a cardiac pacemaker, myocardial arrhythmia, swollen/inflamed skin or cancer,” adds Dr Fan. “It’s also not suited for patients with any metal implants, skin abnormality, history of seizure disorder or epilepsy and patients who have undergone cancer treatment three months prior. And it’s not recommended for pregnant women.”
Note that you might have muscle soreness after your treatments, which usually lasts 24 to 72 hours.
