Dr. Ava Frick, Veterinary Medical Director of Electromedical Products, International, Inc., home of Alpha-Stim® technology, reviews pain treatment protocol for animals using the Smart Probes. She says that the protocol designed for applying Alpha-Stim microcurrent electrical therapy (MET) is just as important as the device’s patented waveform. It’s a five-step protocol that is the same for any part of the body.  The five steps are very simple and easy to master.

Dr. Frick uses Alpha-Stim on a dog

Dr. Frick demonstrates the Big X pattern, which is the first step of the animal pain protocol.

No matter where the problem is on your animal, it’s important to start treatment beyond that area. For example, if the problem is in your pet’s back, you will start treatment away from the spine.

Step 1 – Big “X”
Dr. Frick explains that you want the probes to be far enough away on either side of the problem area – approximately 2 to 2.5 inches from the spine, in this demonstration – so that the current and waveform can effectively move through the area of where the spinal cord and the discs are. Next, you will do the same thing on the opposite side – so if you started with the Smart Probe up high on the left side and down low on the right side, you would then do the opposite. The purpose of the Big X is to address all of the other tissue that is affected by the problem area.

Dr. Frick using Alpha-Stim

Dr. Frick demonstrates the Star Pattern, which is Step 2 of the animal pain protocol

Step 2 – Small Stars
The second step of the protocol involves moving closer to the site of the pain, using a star pattern. In this step, Dr. Frick explains, you will be creating a series of smaller X’s with the Smart Probes, alternating sides to
create the shape of a star or asterisk (*) through the area of concern.

Step 3 – Treat Other Side
This step comes into play when your animal’s pain is located on a specific side of the body, such as in a leg. If your animal has pain in his left leg, Step 3 would call for you to treat the right leg using the Big X and the Star Pattern mentioned above. In this video, Dr. Frick is demonstrating back pain, which is not specific to one side of the body, so Step 3 is not illustrated.

Step 4 – Connect Both Sides
In this step, you will connect the two sides of the body. Here, Dr. Frick demonstrates the four treatment points involved in this step: she starts behind the shoulders and then moves down the back to treat straight across the spine in four distinct locations.

Step 5 – Earclips
The final step of our pain protocol is the application of the earclips for a 20 minute cranial electrotherapy stimulation (CES) treatment.

For more a more detailed explanation of these steps, please see our Five Step Animal Pain Protocol.