Do ab stimulators work? What you should know about these FDA-approved devices

Among the more recent medical devices to receive U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval are electronic ab stimulators — devices meant to help strengthen, tighten and tone core muscles.

Such electronic muscle stimulators often are used for physical therapy or rehabilitation. Doctors provide or prescribe them for muscle spasms, to improve range of motion, to prevent muscle atrophy and to aid with muscle recovery after a significant injury or major surgery.

Ab stimulators use electrical pulses or stimulation to force muscles to contract.

“This contraction is what produces ab growth,” says Lori Shemek, a certified nutritional consultant in Dallas and author of the book “How to Fight FATflammation.” “Ab stimulators really work.”

Shemek says they can help strengthen and tone ab muscles, “but there is no evidence that it will substantially change a person’s body, such as give you those six-pack abs without also incorporating a healthy diet and sufficient exercise.”

Even when ab stimulators work as intended, she says, it takes “about two months to see any perceptible change.”

Natalie Allen, a team dietitian in the athletics department at Missouri State University, says some ab stimulators also claim to reduce waist size and improve posture, “but studies are limited and do not show significant improvements in these areas.”

The FDA says it’s “not aware of scientific information to support many of the promotional claims being made for numerous devices being widely promoted on television, infomercials, newspapers and magazines.”

According to the FDA, when electrical current is applied to muscles through ab stimulators, “it may eventually result in muscles that are strengthened and toned to some extent but will not, based on currently available data, create a major change in your appearance without the addition of diet and regular exercise.”

In addition to ab stimulators like the FDA-approved Slendertone Flex that uses electrical pulses, FDA-approved devices like the Emsculpt Neo “utilizes a different form of stimulation known as high intensity-focused electromagnetic energy combined with radio frequency,” says Dr. Lisa Espinoza, medical director of La Chele Medical Aesthetics in Pennsylvania.

But many available ab stimulators are not FDA-approved and could carry risks. The FDA says it has received “reports of shocks, burns, bruising, skin irritation, pain and interference with other critically important medical devices (such as pacemakers) associated with the use of unregulated (ab stimulator) products.”

Espinoza says many unregulated ab stimulator devices promise results “too good to be true” and that it’s best to receive physician-monitored care or use doctor-recommended devices.

Allen recommends a more natural approach to be physically fit.

“Walk, run, hike or bike,” she says. “And focus on a healthy diet loaded with fruits, vegetables and lean protein to improve overall health and lose weight everywhere, including your abs.”

Read more at usatoday.com