FREQUENCY-SPECIFIC MICROCURRENT AS ADJUNCTIVE THERAPY FOR THREE WOUNDED WARRIORS
Stephen J. Sharp, MD, MS, Mylene T. Huynh, MD, MPH, and Rosemarie Filart, MD, MPH
ABSTRACT
Background: Acupuncture is frequently offered for wounded warriors as a component of an integrated
approach to pain and associated symptoms, with increasing availability at military treatment facilities and
Veterans Administration hospitals. While medications can be effective for many patients, acupuncture and
microcurrent therapies address the growing need to offer nonopiate, nonpharmaceutical therapeutics in integrative
pain management. Frequency-specific microcurrent (FSM) is a newer, adjustable, microcurrent, electrical
stimulation modality with applications for pain and other associated symptoms. Using low amperage,
electrical current delivered transcutaneously affects and repairs tissues at the cellular level. Additionally,
concomitant treatment with acupuncture is possible, which is particularly helpful when space and time limit the
frequency with which acupuncture treatments can be provided.
Cases: For 3 wounded warriors, FSM was combined with acupuncture treatments, resulting in more-rapid
reduction of their pain and associated symptoms; including memory problems, mental sluggishness, and posttraumatic
stress disorder.
Results: FSM was found to be a safe, nonpainful, noninvasive treatment that could be administered concurrently
and beneficially with acupuncture.
Conclusions: While additional, more-rigorous studies are needed, this case series demonstrates the potential
that FSM has within an integrated pain treatment program for wounded warriors.
Keywords: military acupuncture, energy medicine, frequency-specific microcurrent, wounded warrior
INTRODUCTION
Acupuncture is an increasingly important part of
an integrated approach in the treatment of pain in the
U.S. military wounded-warrior population. Acupuncture is
offered at an expanding number of military treatment facilities
(MTFs) and Veterans Administration (VA) hospitals.
1 However, many MTF and VA patients have additional
symptoms and complex pain presentations. Therefore, in
addition to medications, interventional procedures, and surgical
options, awounded-warrior integrated pain-management
program may also include a combination of techniques, such
as acupuncture, electrical stimulation, yoga, mind–body exercises,
chiropractic care, rehabilitation therapies, behavioral
health management, preventative and therapeutic physical
activities, nutrition, and lifestyle modifications evaluations.2,3
While acupuncture alone is helpful for many patients, its optimal
use often requires a frequency of treatments exceeding
the ability of many providers and facilities to accommodate.
Frequency-specific microcurrent (FSM) treatment is
performed with a microcurrent device that is unique in its
adjustability to different tissues, using low-amperage frequencies
that can modulate pain as well as other associated
symptoms.4–7 FSM treatment is based on the biology of
Pain Clinic, Department of Anesthesia, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Bethesda, MD.
The views expressed are the private views of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the U.S. government, the
U.S. Department of Defense or the United States Military.
MEDICAL ACUPUNCTURE
Volume 31, Number 3, 2019
# Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
DOI: 10.1089/acu.2019.1366
189
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resonance and electrical signaling of cells.7–11 Unfortunately,
there is limited clinical research on FSMto date, especially in
conjunction with other integrative therapies such as acupuncture.
This article presents 3 cases in which FSM was
applied concurrently with acupuncture and was found to reduce
symptoms, resulting in fewer visits, compared to acupuncture
alone. This case series also demonstrates the range
of conditions for which FSM may be a safe, valuable adjunctive
therapy.
CASES
Case 1
A 40-year-old active duty physician presented with progressive
back, hip, and leg pain that was interfering with her
regular physical activity and ability to take required physicalassessment
tests. For example, running was very painful and,
therefore, she had activity limitations. This patient reported
that, although acupuncture treatments were helpful, she
continued to have problems with returning to full regular
exercise. FSMwas added into her acupuncture sessions, using
an FSM myofascial, trigger-point (MFTP) program.
After 2 combined FSM and acupuncture treatments, she
began to run again without significant pain for the first time in
several years. With additional treatments, she noted an effect
like ‘‘peeling an onion,’’ wherein previous known areas of
pain and injury improved in a reverse order from the date of
the trauma. Although she had reductions in her pain, she additionally
reported having mental sluggishness and difficulty
with memory that seemed to relate to receiving the anthrax
vaccine many years prior. For those symptoms, FSM was
applied alternating between the FSM Concussion and FSM
Brain Fog programs. After 2 treatments, she reported an improvement
and then, after an additional 2–3 treatments, she
reported her memory had returned to her baseline pre-vaccine
state. Occasional subsequent pain flares were addressed with
further combinations of FSM and acupuncture.
Case 2
A 35-year-old male presented to the pain clinic with
symptoms stemming from several deployments, with multiple
hard landings as a paratrooper, concussion from an
improvised explosive device blast, and C-5–C-6 dislocation
and fracture without neurologic sequelae. He reported
multiple areas of pain, especially in his back and neck,
migraine headaches, thinking and memory problems, and
other post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Due
to this patient’s complex symptom presentation, he was
started on a combination of FSM and acupuncture as an
initial integrated pain approach. At the first treatment, the
FSM Concussion program was applied along with acupuncture
for his neck and back pain.
His chronic headache resolved almost completely after
that first treatment. After the second treatment, his neck and
back began to improve, and a second FSM program, for
PTSD, was initiated. This resulted in the patient reporting
clearer thinking and improved memory for 3–5 days. Continued
treatments resulted in similar improvements of longer
durations and increasing effectiveness. The subsequent
FSM treatments included 1 or 2 of the Concussion, PTSD,
and Brain Fog programs running concurrently or serially per
session. He subsequently underwent a cervical spinal fusion
and was lost to follow-up when he was transferred to a
different geographic location for inpatient rehabilitation.
Case 3
A 32-year-old male presented to the pain clinic with
symptoms of diffuse areas of pain including his neck, back,
and abdomen. He also reported having mental sluggishness
and a brain-fog feeling.He disclosed that he self-administered
multiple supplements in the past, including several that were
reported to have hormone-like effects, which were postulated
as contributing to his symptoms. Following initial treatments
with acupuncture, he reported improvements in pain reduction.
However, his mental sluggishness and brain-fog symptoms
persisted. Consequently, he received FSMin addition to
acupuncture treatments in a dual FSM combination of the
Concussion and Brain Fog programs.
After only a couple of sessions, this patient reported
further reductions in his pain, mental sluggishness, and
brain-fog symptoms. However, while he reported continued
symptom reduction, his ongoing chronic severe behavioralhealth
issues complicated his course. Eventually, he required
transfer to another facility for behavioral-health
management, halting this MTF’s integrated pain program
for him; this patient was then lost to follow-up.
RESULTS
FSMresulted in reduction of pain as well as resolving brain
fog, memory, and headaches in these 3 wounded warriors.
DISCUSSION
FSM is a newer, adjustable, microcurrent, electrical
stimulation modality with applications for pain and other associated
symptoms. FSM is applied through an electronic device
like a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS)
unit and falls under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
category of TENS devices. Yet, unlike TENS, FSM delivers a
nondiscernable microcurrent that is not intended to trigger
muscle contractions or pain. More importantly, FSM delivers
a frequency that is tailored to specific tissues, as well as
the injury/disorders specific to those tissue.4–7 While an
190 SHARP ET AL.
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indepth discussion of how FSM works is beyond the scope of
this article, quantum physics has taught scientists that like atoms,
molecules and tissues vibrate at determined resonant
frequencies.9,10 When a molecule/cell/tissue is sick or injured,
there is a change from its basic resonant frequency.9,10 If the
frequency is reset to the baseline resonant frequency, the cells
and tissues heal more easily and more quickly.4–7,9–11
Like acupuncture, FSM can be tailored to the specific
conditions being treated, thereby providing an individualcentered
treatment. In this case series, several programs
were applied for a range of pain-associated symptoms. The
preinstalled MFTP program was designed for a broad range
of muscle- and fascia-related problems. Other, morespecific
pain FSM programs are often needed when pain
stems from bone, ligament, or nerve injuries, but the MTFP
program often provides a reasonable starting point. Given
that many chronic-pain issues are now postulated to be
fascial-related, the MFTP program was the initial program
used for these 3 patients’ treatments.
Additionally, because it is now widely believed that acupuncture
channels travel in fascial or extracellular-matrix layers,
the present authors hypothesized that these treatments
provided a synergistic effect between acupuncture and FSM.
The second program applied was the Concussion program.
While this program is useful for concussions/mild traumatic
brain injury, as the name suggests, FSM developers have reported
its additional usefulness for addressing emotional, psychologic,
and/or spiritual—as well as physical—traumata. It
appears to function as a ‘‘brain reset’’method that is helpful for
patients with a wide range of pain issues and other conditions.
The third program mentioned was the Brain Fog protocol,
which targets the memory and attention issues that are frequently
seen in wounded-warrior patients—again, stemming
from physical and/or emotional causes. The PTSD
program was applied in the second case. While anecdotal
evidence has reported efficacy of the PTSD program, its 2-
hour duration creates a clinic flow- and time-efficiency
challenge, making it impractical for most routine clinic
sessions. A shorter version of the program is being developed
to address the efficiency challenge.
Musculoskeletal pain stemming from a variety of causes
is seen frequently—whether due to an acute in-theater injury;
wear-and-tear injuries such as occurs in paratroopers
or from walking around the desert with a backpack; ubiquitous
sports injuries; or the most-common ‘‘I don’t know
what caused it’’ injury. The ability to add a peeling-theonion
effect—that is, to delineate the pain sources better—is
an added benefit of FSM as an adjunct to acupuncture
treatment. Recent studies suggest that recurring injuries to
the fascia layer could predispose patients to chronic-pain
problems. Thus, it is important that the ability of FSM to
help isolate and repair chronic fascial injuries appears to aid
in long-term integrated pain treatment.4–7
The mental sluggishness and memory deficits related to
the anthrax vaccine are not commonly reported problems
and, consequently, studies regarding its treatment are lacking.
While a single case remains anecdotal, the potential of
FSM to add a treatment benefit in a patient with symptoms
related to the anthrax vaccine deserves consideration when
treating any patient who might have this problem. This is
especially significant given that there has been no reports of
FSM increasing the risk of adverse effects in these patients.
Moreover, another benefit of FSM treatment is its easy and
safe application for the behavioral health and neurologic
issues often associated with pain. The FSM Brain Fog
program seemed the most relevant in this case, with the
Concussion program as an optional alternative.
The second case was complicated by PTSD and traumatic
brain injury in addition to the patient’s physical injuries.
The third case also involved PTSD, but this was not directly
related to a physical injury or concussion. To address the
practical clinic-flow efficiency challenge, the FSM Concussion
and Brain Fog programs, which run for 25 minutes
each, provide the ease-of-fit within the acupuncture clinic
session time-frame, which, in this MTF facility, is typically
30 minutes. In these 2 cases, the use of FSM treatment with
the Concussion/reset program followed by alternating
treatments with other indicated FSM programs, appeared to
accelerate the recovery process.
The present authors acknowledge limitations in delineating
the specific effect of any given FSM treatment in
this case series. One limitation was that the patients received
treatments within the rubric of an integrated, multidisciplinary,
multimodal pain program, thereby making it
difficult to separate the effect of one treatment from the
integrated program. A second limitation was that 2 patients
(cases 2 and 3) had received care within an integrated pain
program for a variable time frame before receiving FSM
treatments. A third limitation is the number of clinic visits
with FSM treatments were limited by the patients being
discharged from care and lost to follow-up. Nevertheless,
even with these limitations, the treated wounded warriors
reported that, with the addition of FSM, they had noticeable
changes during those sessions.
CONCLUSIONS
At present, while FSM has potentially wide applications
for addressing a range of pain disorders and related conditions,
with increasing clinical usage, current literature on
clinical experience has been mostly case reports, such as
with this case series.7–10 Some randomized controlled trials
are planned or in progress; however, much more is needed.
From this small case series, the present authors conclude
that there is an added treatment benefit of symptom reduction
following the combination of FSM and acupuncture
treatment for wounded warriors, to address their pain,
PTSD, and other associated conditions. It is hoped these
case reports will provide a stimulus for further research
FSM AND ACUPUNCTURE 191
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using FSM as an adjunct to acupuncture treatment and as
part of an integrated pain-management program for wounded
warriors.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Special thanks to Carolyn McMakin, DC, who provided
the impetus for us to learn FSM and to publish these cases.
AUTHOR DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
No competing financial interests exist.
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Address correspondence to:
Stephen Sharp, MD
Pain Clinic
Department of Anesthesia
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
8901 Wisconsin Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20889
E-mail: stephen.j.sharp2.ctr@mail.mil