Features Practice Technique
Endermologie

For about 20 years, women all over the world have been undergoing Cellulite Reduction Treatments by way of Endermologie. But did you know that this technique was actually first designed to regenerate and repair scar tissue in burn victims?

Over the course of testing and trials, the benefits in cellulite reduction was undeniably terrific that LPG France chose these esthetic results to be the base and the chosen pathway of advertising and marketing for the company.

The LPG technology really entered the Canadian market about 6-8 years ago, but with many limitations on treatment applications, costs and Health Professionals able to perform the techniques.

Within the last two years, because of great demand from health professionals regarding therapeutic effects and also popularity of the LPG technique, Canada now has its own LPG Endermologie distributor. Endermologie performed with therapeutic results in mind is termed Endermotherapy.

Since the addition of the Canadian distributor, sales of the Cellu M6 Keymodule and public awareness of Endermologie and Endermotherapy has skyrocketed.

The LPG Cellu M6 KEYMODULE I is the only tool able to provide a continuous mechanical manipulation of the skin and subcutaneous tissues, for therapeutic purposes, for beauty treatments, to fight signs of aging and to enhance athletic performance!

Technique
Each rotary cylinder is driven by a miniaturized motor that allows it to move independently of its counterpart, each on with an identical or different direction or speed of rotation, depending on the objective. The slight negative pressure gently lifts the tissues while the rotary cylinders form a fold and work it in different directions, shapes and at different intensities. In this way, all the transformations encountered receive adequate stimulation for an effective restructuring during treatment sessions. Research by LPG has validated the effectiveness of this technique in numerous applications, from scleroderma to radiation-induced fibrosis, from cellulite to lymphoedema, from golfer’s swing to athletic recovery.

Applications
Interchangeable keymodules for acting on connective tissue where needed:

• Health: to overcome pathological transformations of the connective tissues resulting from disease, accidents, surgery, disabilities.
• Beauty: to combat cellulite, shape the profile, smooth and tone the skin, stimulate circulation, shorten healing time and improve the effects of cosmetic surgery, fight the signs of time.
• Anti-Aging: to restore energy, remove tension, revitalize, combat aging, give radiance
• Performance: to prepare muscles for exertion and assist them in recovery, to help in the healing of injuries and rehabilitation for sports activities, to optimize the performance of tissues and joints.

Endermotherapy Applications
Burns & Grafts
With burns, there is a constant risk of bad scarring. Without implementing an early treatment, complications are almost inevitable.

Hypertrophic scarring, retraction, binding, and adhesions are some of the elements that, depending on their nature, may have an impact on the functional and esthetic plane.

After burns, the skin under reconstruction is extremely fragile; nevertheless, it must be mobilized. This mobilization proves to be extremely delicate and sometimes painful.

Often, it cannot be done by hand, especially because of adhesions that are forming and the fragility of the newly reconstructed epidermis. Thanks to its own special characteristics, Endermotherapy is recognized today by the most well-known burn specialists of the world as an integral part of the therapeutic arsenal for treating scars and burns.

A practical review going back more than 10 years and involving more than 1500 cases has shown the value of the Cellu M6 in the treatment of the after-affects of severe burns. It is manifested on several levels: drainage of scar edema, vascularization, combating adhesions, mobility of the superficial plane. Endermotherapy thus allows, first and early treatment around the periphery of the scar tissue, and then on the scar itself. The sequentiality applicable to the mobilization of tissues is fully utilized here: it allows treatment of the areas that are still inflamed while taking their sensitivity into consideration.

The conclusions of the different clinical studies emphasize the beneficial effect on the Cellu M6 on the reduction of the inflammatory state, cutaneous elasticity, the detachment of adhesions and the recovery of joint mobility. The esthetic gain is also undeniable: The skin appears less “hard” and its colour and pigmentation are closer to normal, to the great satisfaction of the practitioners and their patients.

Grafts and the sites from which grafts have been taken can also be considered as scars; grafts will frequently present problems at the junction of the grafted skin and healthy skin, as well as over the whole area of the graft – problems of congestion, adhesions and lack of extensibility due to the placement of borrowed skin over an area of old scarring.

The area from which the graft was taken frequently remains a supple area without adhesions, but with a certain number of sensitive problems that may need to be treated. In these two cases, it is recommended that Endermotherapy be utilized with different protocols and for the benefits already recognized and already overwhelmingly publicized by therapists and their patients.

Scarring
During the physiological process of healing, the repair of the skin depends essentially on the stimulation of the connective tissues. In the beginning, the formation of a blood clot ensures a link between the edges of the wound. Then there is a migration of fibroblasts. These synthesize collagen, which, when organized into fibres, constitutes the scar framework.

The scar corresponds, in fact, to a state of fibrosis of the cutaneous connective tissue that is more or less extended, sometimes excessively. Because of the scar’s location and etiology, it many involve more
than the skin – perhaps a muscle (the abdominals, for example), the organs (the uterus, for example), the tendons, the joint capsules (of the knee, for example), or the ligaments (following a recurring sprain). Its extent and its form are the result of the cause, whether traumatic or surgical, accidental or planned, and the quality of the skin, which may heal with or without difficulty.

Once the scar is considered stable (that is, it no longer presents inflammatory phenomena), certain complications resulting from tissue fibrosis many appear, however.

These complications are both esthetic and functional:

1. Hypersensitivity to compression of the small nerves, rendering the skin painful to the touch and to rubbing around the scar;
2. Hyposensitivity from injury to the small nerves when they don’t grow again, leaving a skin that is not very sensitive or totally insensitive;
3. Loss of cutaneous extensibility, a binding scar or adhesion on the deeper levels, in the organs, bones, or muscle, forming a deep scar that impedes movement and may even affect posture.

In order to limit such complications, a scar must always be mobilized, made supple, and drained. But depending on the location and quality of the tissues, certain scars may be difficult to mobilize manually, even painful when squeezed. Sometimes an old scar presents adhesions and has generated an accumulation of fat, making any attempt at manual treatment both delicate and difficult.

In contrast to the action of the hand, Endermotherapy allows, on the one hand, intervention as soon as epidermization is complete while guaranteeing a painless mobilization of the scar tissue on any area of the body without squeezing or uncontrolled traction, which the hand can never do. On the other hand, the Cellu M6 is able to act on very old scars presenting deep, extended adhesions. By its anti-fibrosis action, Endermotherapy permits treatment of all the complications caused by the scarring and it gradually restores mobility and functionality. Whether on the body or the face, the combination of the gentle grasping of tissue and the different rotations of the rollers ensures the scar tissue and the tissues surrounding it a unique, pain-free, non-traumatizing exercise that encourages a real scientifically demonstrated restructuring.

Cheloid/Hypertrophic
A scar is called hypertrophic when it presents significant inflammation, an exaggerated relief and pronounced congestion after more than on year.

A scar is cheloid when it presents inflammation and major congestion with significant relief, forming a roll
of skin, after more than 18 months.

Dark skin often presents this type of scar, due to an anarchical proliferation of scar collagen imprisoning the microcirculation.

The choice of Endermotherapy in the particular case of hypertrophic and cheloid scars is not contraindicated; by following a precise protocol that respects the scar as long as the inflammatory state persists, the heads armed with motorized rollers, fixed or active, have a primary role to play in activating the scar tissue even at a distance and ensure that surrounding tissues the maintenance of their trophic quality.

Fibrosis
Fibrosis is the densification of the connective framework of a tissue; it is generally of the inflammatory type, resulting from a burn or from trauma or from venous or lymphatic insufficiency. It may also be due to other causes such as aging of the tissues.

Present in the connective partitions of cellulite as well as in burned and scarred skin, in tissues organized by lymphoedema occurring after breast cancer surgery and in stiff joint capsules, fibrosis represents a long-term problem that is considered invincible.

Nevertheless, the connective tissue in which fibrosis is located is a plastic tissue that is capable of structural changes as long as the appropriate, measured stimulation is applied to it.

The Cellu M6 encourages the regression of fibrosis by the mobilization that it provides the connective tissues. In the after-effects of trauma, in rheumatology, in lymphology, in the after-effects of surgery, the clinical results are quickly manifested: an increase in the range of movement of the joints, sedation of any pain, improvement in the circulation of blood and lymph.

Radiation induced cutaneous fibrosis, a frequent complication of breast cancer, is also a source of functional problems more or less significant. Erythema, pain, hardening and itching are all part of the customary clinical picture.

In this context, Endermotherapy has shown convincing results on fibrosis by its process of gentle, progressive tissue mechanization.

A preliminary randomized study (12) conducted with a control group of 20 women presenting mammary radiation fibrosis provided the proof of a significant improvement in the quality of the skin with an associated increase in suppleness and a reduction in erythema. Discomfort and function difficulties were also reduced.

Furthermore, multiple practitioners testify each day to the very satisfactory results that they are obtaining on a large number of other types of fibroses, lymphoedemas, cellulite, scarring, tendonitis, the after-effects of burns, and joint stiffness.

In Summary
Although the LPG Keymodule is being used mainly for esthetic improvements, and quite effectively, you can see why the interest in therapeutic benefits is increasing at a phenomenal rate.

Family Massage Therapy Clinic in Hamilton, Ontario is one of the first clinics to regularly use their Cellu M6 Keymodules for therapeutic benefits. Many treatment protocols have been administered and many patients are finding great relief from nagging signs and symptoms with the Cellu M6 Keymodule.

Some of these conditions treated include: Multiple Sclerosis, Osteoarthritis, Fibromyalgia, Crohn’s Disease, Lymphoedema and Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness.

Some of the improvements include; better circulation, improvement in temperature of the limbs, improved digestion, increased skin quality, decrease in water retention, and overall decrease in muscle aches and pains.

Family Massage Therapy Clinic works in conjunction with the Canadian LPG distributor in Montreal as an information centre. Since the Clinic sees many clients for therapeutic treatments, Health Professionals are often referred there to discuss, in person with LPG trained technicians, treatment applications and protocols, therapeutic benefits and LPG Keymodule purchase options and details.