Callum's Story - Spotlight on PEMF

Callum suffered an elbow fracture after a fall in January 2024.   ​Below is an excerpt of Callum's journey in real time, in his own words.   Please feel free to contact to ask any questions.

At the start of February I went for an x-ray and confirmed there was a hairline fracture and was advised to take 8 weeks off training, as the pain reduced when i didn't use it and i still was able to use my arm it wasn’t put into a cast. They didn’t give me an MRI or anything of that nature to show any other tissue/ligament/tendon damage.

I took 8 weeks off training and consciously tried to not use my right arm for daily activities. This seemed to have worked, the pain was completely gone. However if i was to knock it very softly the pain would flare up for days again.  I returned back to training after 8 weeks and firstly it felt fine, there was a slight feeling but not painful at all and I assumed it was from lack of use and was still healing and would improve over time.

As time passed the pain came back more intense daily/weekly to the point I couldn't carry out daily tasks without excruciating pain and felt worse than it ever did.

Vida attends the gym I work at and we spoke about the elbow quite often when we had a catch up and she was almost certain there was more damage than just the bone due to the long recovery time.

At this point its now mid July, unable to train or very minimally to get by and having so much pain even writing with a pen or resting my arm on a flat surface. Vida recommended to come in for treatment and see what she can do to help and turned out to be the best decision I had made!

The following timeline is Callum’s PEMF Treatment in his own words.

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July 26th

Today was the first day of treatment and was also extremely painful, i attempted to train before but had to call it quits halfway through as it was getting worse with every rep. Vida recommended using PEMF and so massage on the surrounding area of the elbow. Vida had to find the exact pain point and I nearly hit the roof when she did…fast forward an hour of PEMF and massage the pain has subsided massively, it was still there but she was able to apply pressure to the inflamed area and it was bearable.

July 27th

Day after the first treatment, my elbow and surrounding area felt sore but was expected after the massage but it was more of a bruised/aching feeling compared to a sharp shooting pain. I left it to rest and didn't train as advised. ght it would be wise and not over do it in the early stages of treatment

July 28th

I wanted to gain the best results so i took another day off to rest and the aching/bruising feeling was subsiding and the pain in my elbow had gone from 10/10 to around 5/10 now, could carry out daily activities without noticing pain unless I knocked my arm or used it for example to get out of chair pushing myself up.

July 29th

Waking up the pain was minimal and I didn't notice it at all. Today I returned back to training, at the very start of training when warming up it was a little painful but as I got warmed up and continued the pain subsided. As the session continued and towards the end the pain had increased but didnt stop me training and I could push through it, more of a niggly pain that was there but wasn't painful.

July 30th

Next to zero pain when waking up, I didn't notice it at all again until i knocked it (you’ll be surprised how many times you knock you elbow until you injury it) I took the day off training as I thought it would be wise and not over do it in the early stages of treatment.

July 31st

I returned back to the gym and once again whilst warming up felt a bit cranky and subsided and then got a little worse to a niggly pain by the end, but still very bearable and was able to complete the session without missing bits out.

August 1st

Elbow felt very cranky this morning, it had been 5 days since my first treatment and a few training sessions in this time and I did expect there to be pain coming back with only having the first treatment. I trained this day and the pain was the worst it had been since treatment started, i was still able to complete my session but it was uncomfortable towards the end. Second treatment with Vida, once again felt the pain point and was extremely painful. This followed with an hour of PEMF and some massage which at the time was painful but as it continued the pain lessened to the point it was nearly pain free applying pressure to the area. The evening the elbow and surrounding area was quite sore/aching but was expected.

August 2nd

The aching feeling had subsided a lot and carried out daily activities as normal pain free but didn't train and let it rest as advised.

August 3/4/5th

Collated these three days as they were all very similar, zero pain throughout doing normal daily activities in which I would usually feel a lot of pain doing things such as pushing doors, writing on paper, resting my arm on surfaces such as my car door when driving or even as small as pulling my t-shirt off. I trained on all three days, granted one day I trained legs but even holding onto handles with force when training legs would result in pain but throughout all three sessions I had next to no pain, I could feel more of a pressure in my elbow but not pain. August 5th evening I had my third session with Vida using PEMF, massage and also scraping. When arriving she located the pain point again and it was painful to touch at the start but was bearable where previously I would be pulling my arm away. By the end of the session again the elbow felt a little achy but next to no pain. We also tried activities which would previously cause me excruciating pain such as a press up, pull up, leaning on the elbow or pull my t-shirt off and again no pain, slight pressure feeling but no pain.

August 7-11th

Between these days i attended a festival in which i completely rested my elbow and no lifting involved at all and it was completely pain free.

August 13th ONWARDS

First session back being a push session which would be the most painful of sessions before treatment, I either had to tone down the weight/intensity or even stop altogether. However, it is completely pain free.

PRESENT DAY

Today is Tuesday 03rd September. I am able to train in any exercise, any movement, any intensity with zero pain, niggles or aches. I never thought this day would come as it seemed never ending as I was told when I was first examined the pain would be gone in 6-8 weeks which would have been March but was still excruciating until the end of July until I started treatment with Vida. To be completely honest I was sceptical and didn't have much hope due to the amount of pain and duration that had passed with no sign of relief only getting worse and I couldn't see how these treatments could help but even after the very first treatment I had so much improvement. Going to Vida was the best decision I had made and I would recommend her to anyone and everyone she has done what I didn't think would be possible, I thought she may of given me some short term relief to allow me to train but to go from not being able to write on a white board for 5 months to training 5x a week again with no pain is unbelievable. Lastly, a family member of mine asked how my injured elbow was feeling nowadays and I forgot which elbow it was that I injured!