This research was conducted in 2022 by a team of experts, including Dr. Pooja H. Rambhia, Louise Turner, Dr. Nkem Ugonabo, and Dr. Anne Chapas.

These researchers are based in the United States and are specialists in dermatologic surgery and aesthetic treatments, areas where they’ve built solid reputations for helping patients safely achieve desired body shapes.

This study focuses on a treatment called Aesthetic Muscle Stimulation (AMS), which uses high-intensity electromagnetic fields (HIFEM).

This technique sends powerful but safe pulses into targeted muscles, causing them to contract. These contractions increase muscle size (called hypertrophy) and decrease fat in the treated area, giving the body a more sculpted look.

AMS (Aesthetic Muscle Stimulation) can indeed be considered a specialized form of EMS (Electrical Muscle Stimulation) with a few key distinctions:

• Stronger Current: AMS uses a high-intensity electromagnetic field (HIFEM) that allows for a more intense muscle contraction compared to standard EMS.

  
  

• Focused Electromagnetic Field: Unlike typical EMS, which uses electrical currents applied through skin electrodes, AMS employs focused electromagnetic pulses that penetrate deeper into muscles.

  
  

• Aesthetic Purpose: While EMS is often used for muscle recovery, strengthening, or pain relief, AMS is specifically designed for body contouring—helping with muscle toning and targeted fat reduction.

The study reviewed results from 20 previous studies, involving a total of 521 patients who underwent AMS treatments.

Most of these treatments were done on people looking to tone the abdomen, but other areas included the buttocks, arms, and calves.

This study is a “literature review,” meaning the researchers looked at data from many different studies on AMS.

They only included studies that focused on body contouring (toning and shaping) and excluded studies on animals, non-cosmetic treatments, or lab-only research.

By reviewing these studies, the researchers could find patterns and get a big-picture view of AMS effectiveness and safety.

The results showed that AMS is particularly effective for toning and shaping the abdomen.

Patients saw an increase in muscle thickness and a reduction in abdominal fat, with these benefits lasting up to a year.

AMS seemed to provide less clear results for other areas, like the buttocks and arms, where more research is needed.

EMS can be helpful for people who want to tone their muscles without intense workouts.

Since AMS directly contracts the muscles, it could be an option for people looking to improve muscle tone in targeted areas and reduce fat.

This study suggests that AMS may provide a noninvasive alternative for achieving muscle tone and reducing fat, especially in the abdominal area.

For people using EMS devices, this research highlights how regular EMS treatments might help achieve visible results in muscle tone and fat reduction.

EMS may be most effective in shaping areas like the abdomen, which showed the best results in this study.

To read the full study, click here. This link takes you to PubMed, a trusted website for reliable scientific studies managed by the National Institutes of Health.

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