Hi eightthirty,

How has your treatment been going?

Hi WJ,

Thank you for your question.  We sincerely appreciate your interest in our products.

You have asked a great question which is loaded with issues that we are trying to work through ourselves.  You identified one of the biggest issues in your post, probably without even realizing it.  What do you consider "standard rehabilitation protocols alone"?  Is that doing nothing at all?  Is it phyisio?  If so what kinds with what therapies?  And for what conditions?  And for what parts of the body?  And for what grade of injury?  The scope of conditions is overwhelming and it is difficult to publish meaningful data that reaches the breadth of audience.  It is also prohibitively expensive to do unique studies on each condition.

We are currently working on an application that will allow all users of our products and non-users to participate in submitting data just for the purpose you describe.  We will allow people to identify their ailment and the treatment they are using.  They can then provide regular updates on their progress and that data will become visible to everyone (no personal identification information will be collected or reported).  In time this will hopefully give us a broad set of data to reveal to everyone what works best for people in their condition.  Hopefully this will be out in a few months time.

You asked specifically about BFST.  BFST stands for Blood Flow Stimulation Therapy.  Fundamentally this technology runs on the premise that, in the indicated conditions that we recommend it, increasing blood flow is demonstrated by tons of independent research to improve healing.  If increased blood flow to the area won't help, BFST most likely won't help.  If increased blood flow is desirable, then BFST is an excellent choice.  It is important at this point to understand how we design BFST products.  We don't develop BFST products specifically for a single condition such as your MCL injury.  We design and constantly redesign BFST products to improve blood flow beneath the skin and that's it.  We are confident that if we can make the best possible device at improving sub-dermal circulation, the benefits will be realized in the areas that are applicable. 

We spend a lot of time and money constantly improving our products.  The BFST and ColdCure devices we sell today are better than the ones we sold two years ago.  By better, I mean the BFST Energy Web is better at stimulating blood flow in deep tissue and the ColdCure gel has more cold capacity and better thermal transfer characteristics.  The versions from 2 years ago were better than the ones from 4 years ago, and the ones next year will be better than last year.  Our technology is constantly getting better.  I can tell you for sure that if you want to stimulate your circulation, the BFST product we offer is the best product we can devise after many years of constant research and re-engineering.  And with great certainty I can tell you there is no other company or product that has anywhere near the level of expertise and experience we have in this arena.  Whether your particular MCL injury will recover faster with even more blood flow is a question your physician is better qualified to answer.

I respect your diligence in looking for studies.  There is a lot of mis-information online.  This is a big issue for us as well.  There are many companies selling products that do no good, and in some cases even make conditions worse.  I could give you a long list of products that are commonly used but are nothing more than placebos and, sadly, in too many cases can make a person's condition worse.  How many times have you seen something marketed with the trailer "the preceding product has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to treat, cure, or heal any disease" or something to that effect.  Yet people buy them in droves anyway.  It's very distressing.  We are not one of those companies.  Our BFST product is an FDA registered medical device and that means a lot to you.

The FDA is here to protect you and look out for your best interests.  The FDA (and related ISO standards) rules that govern our product REQUIRE that proof of efficacy exists.  FDA rules REQUIRE that our products are safe.  FDA rules REQUIRE that we maintain very high standards of testing and manufacturing and materials quality.  FDA rules REQUIRE that everything that matters is documented and signed and traceable.  When the FDA came for their routine audit last spring they came and stayed for an entire week.  We were inspected very intensely and you can be sure that they made sure that we complied with ALL of the rules that are there to protect you.  They went through tons of records and documentation.  Before they even got here they had examined and printed out what looked like our entire website to understand the claims we are making.  The US government has checked us out for you to make sure we are legit.  We're not special, all manufacturers of FDA devices get inspected.  That's why so few companies are FDA registered, because you can only pass if you are a legitimate company manufacturing legitimate products to a very high standard.  FDA registration means a lot.  I would hope any time you use any product or medicine to help with a medical condition you always check to see if the treatment is FDA registered.  If it isn't (and it might surprise you how often this is the case) then it's probably a waste of your time and money.

WJ, I'm sorry I can't turn around a say, "yes, here's a study on BFST and grade I laterally torn MCL injuries".  I can only tell you that the BFST Knee Device will certainly stimulate blood flow in your MCL and surrounding tissue.  I don't know the specifics of your condition so I would be irresponsible to definitively prescribe your treatment.  If your physician feels that blood flow stimulation would be beneficial in your case, I strongly recommend this product.  In this case, you would not be going on untested claims alone, the FDA has been here on your behalf to look out for your best interests.

Thanks again for considering our product.

I always find it amazing how people use the wrist wrap as a versatile multi-body part wrap.  I was thinking when I read this post that if you got a wrist wrap AND an extension strap, it might be able to wrap nicely around a neck, arm or leg as well. 

I read on someone's blog how a yoga instructor would lay it flat and sit on it to limber up her hamstrings and glutes.  Frankly, I think the larger Energy Web in the leg wrap or back might be better for a lot, but you have to respect all the uses people get out of our wrist wrap.

Also, we do have a customer for whom we make an upper back BFST pad. It's quite large. It has a neck extension built into it so it covers the entire trapezius area and up the back of the neck.  It is a custom product we make just for them so it's not available on our site.  The company name is Ceanix if you're interested in tracking them down.

Hi Pampullen,

I would caution you against the use of a TENS machine for a meniscus tear.  A TENS machine shocks your body with the intent of 'deadening' your nerves so you don't feel the pain.  It does not help you heal.  Carpal Tunnel is a nerve related ailment so your TENS machine would have been effective at numbing your median nerve but it would not have healed it.

In the case of a Meniscus tear, you should be careful.  The shocks from a TENS machine can cause your muscles to suddenly contract, often they contract with every shock cycle of the TENS.  This sudden flinching of the muscles can possibly put undue shock stress on your meniscus and possibly worsen the tear.  Of course, for the best advice you should discuss your options with your physician.  He/she knows your situation best.

a BFST items does not shock you like a TENS machine.  It is very soothing and is more likely to relax your joint than cause it to experience more stress.  The two treatments are entirely different.

I hope this helps.

I would like to reiterate that for people with a complete tear, surgery is required.  The two ends of the torn tendon will not be able to reach out and rejoin without the aid of surgery. 

In the case of a partial tear, the body will start to stitch back together beginning at the point where the two ends of the tendon are still connected.  Depending on the severity of the tear, this is more or less feasible.  Your surgeon will give you the best assessment.

Even if you have surgery, afterwards, ColdCure products are excellent tools to reduce the pain and swelling.  As well, just because the Dr. has stitched your tendon back together, it still has an incredible amount of healing to do.  After surgery, BFST treatments are very valuable to aid the healing process. 

The surgery is just the start of the solution.  The stitches will not hold your tendon together.  The tissue has to grow back together and this is exactly the type of growth that BFST serves to promote.  After surgery your tissue can heal poorly or well.  Take care of your injury and help it heal as well as possible to get back as much strength and flexibility as you can and to reduce the possibility of further problems down the road.

If you are having surgery, BFST and ColdCure products are ideal for you!

Recently we have started shipping some of our ColdCure products with a new kind of gel.  It looks even more unusual than our regular gel.  It is still gold in color, but it now has a bit more fog to it and it has a white substance on one side of the pack.

This new gel is something we call XC gel.  It is designed to move the cold in the gel to the areas that need it most.   

With the traditional blue gel packs you get in stores, aside from not having nearly as much cold power as a King Brand gel, a part of the gel pack can get warm even when the rest of the gel pack is still cold.  Similarly, if you are using the old style blue goo gel as a hot pack, when you heat it in a microwave, part of a blue gel pack can get really hot while the rest is still cool.  Our gold and white XC gel is 'hyper conductive', which means that the heat/cold in the pack balances out much better than blue goo.  So, when gel over your injury warms, new cold power moves in from the rest of the gel pack to keep pumping more cold into the area.  This gives better pain treatment and swelling control.

Even though our XC gel is white on one side and gold on the other, it doesn't matter which way you put the gel in the wrap.  You can have the white side facing away from your skin or towards it.  You get the same excellent cold balancing results either way.

Not all our gel packs are XC yet.  They will be in time.  But don't worry, if your product isn't available in XC yet, you still get King Brand RigiGel with it's massive Cold power, rigid gel that stays in place and all the other benefits of our King Brand gel technology.  They are still, and have always been, the best gel you can get.