In this episode, we bring you an interview with physiotherapist, lecturer and microcurrent trainer Matthias Rother. Matthias has been working with microcurrent for over 20 years and “can no longer imagine his day-to-day work in the physiotherapy practice without microcurrent”.

We have divided the interview into three parts. It essentially focuses on the application of microcurrent and LED light therapy in day-to-day physiotherapy practice. Biomechanical therapy is one of Matthias’s specialities, and naturally, the treatment of reflex muscles is an integral part of this. Matthias also describes how he uses LED light therapy as a diagnostic tool for ‘troubleshooting’.

Part 2/3 of the interview

Transcript of this episode

00:00:00
Patrick Walitschek: Welcome to a new LuXXaMed podcast. My name is Patrick Walitschek, and in this episode I’ve brought you a brand-new interview, which, by the way, you can also watch on YouTube as a video podcast or video recording: Just search for ‘LuXXaMed’ on YouTube – it’s been published very recently on our channel. For the purposes of this podcast, I’ve split the interview into three parts, as it lasted a total of one hour. And before I go into the specifics of the content – I think – let’s start straight away with the first part.

00:00:36
Patrick Walitschek: First, an overview of what we’ll be covering: specifically, microcurrent in physiotherapy, LED light therapy in the context of manual therapy, the systemic approach – that is, the complex, systematic use of microcurrent – and the reflex muscle system. But as I said, you’ll find the exact details here in the first of a total of three episodes featuring an interview with physiotherapist Matthias Rother, who has been using microcurrent therapy for over 20 years. On that note: I hope you enjoy this interview, and do look forward to the next episode next week.

00:01:27
Patrick Walitschek: A very warm welcome, Matthias, to our podcast.

00:01:31
Matthias Rother: Hello. Good evening!

00:01:34
Patrick Walitschek: It’s great that this has worked out. This time, we won’t be recording the podcast as a face-to-face interview; instead, we’re going to try doing it over the phone. We hope that works out too. I’ve already done a few tests beforehand to check the audio quality, and I reckon it could turn out well. We’ve done a podcast once before, haven’t we? But that was – I think – about three or four years ago.

00:01:54
Matthias Rother: Yes, it’s been quite a while. That’s true.

00:01:58
Patrick Walitschek: That was a bit of a general podcast. What’s today’s topic? As I mentioned in the last episode, it’s actually about one big topic – or perhaps several smaller ones. That’ll be the deciding factor in whether we release this podcast as a single episode. We probably won’t do that, but will instead edit it into several episodes. Because, broadly speaking – and Matthias, please feel free to correct or add to this – it’s about microcurrent in physiotherapy and LED light therapy in physiotherapy. In other words: how are these instruments combined? How can other techniques – let’s say manual therapy, osteopathic training therapy and so on – be integrated? … So what are some conceivable concepts for physiotherapy when it comes to microcurrent, frequency-specific microcurrent and LED?

00:02:50
Patrick Walitschek: And then, of course, we’ll be looking at the huge topic: our system, which we’ve been demonstrating in our training courses for several years now – in fact, for many years. Or rather: you show, demonstrate and explain what actually lies behind this system application using microcurrent and LED light. And I know one of the major topics is also the reflex muscle system: what is it? What are reflex muscles? What do they look like? How and why can I treat and influence them so effectively using LED light and microcurrent?

00:03:29
Matthias Rother: Yes.

00:03:31
Patrick Walitschek: That’s more or less my idea of the content. I think we’ve already put together a decent portfolio of material.

00:03:38
Matthias Rother: Yes, I’d say so. It’s quite diverse, versatile and extremely wide-ranging in terms of where we have potential uses and areas of application. The possibilities for where it can be used are almost limitless.

00:03:55
Patrick Walitschek: Right. Then I’d say let’s start right at the beginning: how did you get into the field of microcurrent?

00:04:03
Matthias Rother: I first came across it in the year 19… Let me think. It was a long time ago. It must have been ’94. I attended training courses with two Belgian physiotherapists who – looking back – I must count, and am happy to count, amongst my most important and influential teachers. They taught me an enormous amount – a wide variety of things. And one of them had a microcurrent device at the time. It was – as I think I’ve mentioned in a previous interview – an extremely simple device. Technically – compared to the technology we have available today – it was actually a bit of a joke, but still, it delivered results for us. Therapeutically, everything had to be set manually. There were three or four frequencies to choose from, and – if I remember correctly – three current levels, plus the choice of polarity: bipolar, positive and negative polarity, and that was it. So it was extremely simple, and years later we actually analysed one of these devices a bit. So, let’s just say we only delivered roughly what was preset. If, for example, you’d set it to 100 microamperes, that’s roughly what came out, but never exactly – never precisely – which, looking back, couldn’t really have been any different given the technical design of the devices. But as I said, even these devices showed and delivered therapeutic results. Astonishing results – it was really exciting.

00:06:12
Matthias Rother: What was such an ‘aha’ moment for me back then, and what I found so fascinating, was working on muscles with these so-called rod electrodes, which we then fitted with cotton buds as contact surfaces or with little fleece covers so that we could use water and ensure the best possible electrical contact. That was the ‘aha’ moment for me back then – this manual work on muscles that actually showed results within seconds. It was absolutely fascinating at the time. That was how I got started. That was in ’94, and in ’99 I came into contact with the company LuXXaMed. That’s when I first met Voracek.

00:07:03
Patrick Walitschek: That was still the predecessor company, wasn’t it? LuXXaMed didn’t come along until 2011. But you were working there with (unint.)

00:07:10
Matthias Rother: That’s right, that was the predecessor company, and that was the phase back then when the very first microcurrent device was in development at your company. That’s when I first made contact.

00:07:23
Patrick Walitschek: Yes. That was a very exciting time too; it must have been around the 2000s.

00:07:28
Matthias Rother: Yes, exactly.

00:07:33
Patrick Walitschek: Great. If we move on to day-to-day matters now – your everyday practice: what are the moments when you use microcurrent and LED, or just LED light, and for which conditions?

00:07:54
Matthias Rother: Well, to be perfectly honest: in my day-to-day work, there’s hardly a treatment where I don’t use LED light. There are very few exceptions. If you’ve got a rare case – whether it’s an athlete or not, it doesn’t really matter – and you’re focusing – because that’s what’s indicated – on an exercise programme or a training programme, then of course I don’t use it, because in my view it’s out of place there. But otherwise, in everything to do with manual, manual therapy treatments – whatever you might call them or how you might categorise them – LED light is always involved, always.

00:08:44
Patrick Walitschek: And electricity as well now, or does the LED light work in isolation?

00:08:50
Matthias Rother: Mainly the LED light. The electrical current is, of course, also used. I combine the two as well. We can perhaps come back to that later, otherwise it might all get a bit too complex at once, but when I start a treatment and first carry out a manual/manual therapy – or whatever you want to call it – muscle treatment or trigger point treatment, the LED light is always used in combination with that. For two reasons: the first reason is… Well, that’s how I explain it to patients, because many find it hard to understand; they simply say, ‘What sort of light is that?’ At first, they can’t quite grasp what the point is of just playing around with light. I see – or rather, I’ve found – two key advantages to using the LED light: I can very quickly alleviate pain and tension in the muscles.

00:09:52
Patrick Walitschek: Yes.

00:09:52
Matthias Rother: This is subjectively pleasant for the patient, because very quickly it simply doesn’t hurt as much anymore. And that’s how I can, in principle, prepare my treatment. So if I’m working on a structure that’s clearly – for whatever reason – sensitive to pain or pressure during treatment, then naturally the patient’s tolerance is initially reduced to a greater or lesser extent. Who actually likes being in pain? And that’s not very pleasant. If I pre-treat the area with the light, I can take away the initial spike of pain very quickly. That takes – just to give you an idea – a very short time: just a few minutes. In the region of one, two, three, perhaps as long as four minutes. Four is almost a long time. Once I’ve relieved that initial spike of pain, I can then work on the muscle more intensively by hand.

00:10:51
Matthias Rother: I think this combination is important. Just using light on its own isn’t enough for me. It does make a big difference even if you stick to that alone. So, in principle, I’ve also (done a few trials?): Right, now I’ll just place it there or stick it on with a strip of tape and see what happens in 10–15 minutes. And that’s also very remarkable. But for me, the combination is unbeatable. It also varies throughout the treatment. Then I’ll hold the (light pressure?) there for one, two or three minutes. Then I’ll move away and work on it using just my fingers again. And that way, I can reach deeper structures very quickly. The patient allows this too, because it simply isn’t as uncomfortable any more. And the second crucial factor here is that, in my experience – and I’ve been doing this for several years now – the effect I achieve has a significantly longer-lasting impact. So the effect I achieve lasts considerably longer than when I apply the treatment to patients ‘just’ using manual techniques. That’s absolutely crucial for me.

00:12:06
Matthias Rother: So, let’s just take the topic of white muscle treatment for a moment. Of course, this also applies to other structures that can be treated in this way. Scars are a major issue. I find it absolutely fascinating to observe time and again how scar tissue – whether it’s more or less fresh following an injury or surgery, or sometimes even scars that are several years old – still causes patients problems.

00:12:38
Matthias Rother: It certainly does happen that they simply cause people pain, or that the scar tissue is sensitive to changes in the weather. You can see this in the texture and colour of the scar; it’s slightly raised and a bit reddish. And for me, that’s always a sign or an indication that we need to take a closer look, because it can certainly have biomechanical implications. And then we’re back to all sorts of chronic or semi-chronic pain symptoms that can arise. So this classic lumbar spine syndrome or sciatica – as it’s sometimes called – or something of that nature can certainly be caused, to a greater or lesser extent, by such irritations caused by scar tissue.

00:13:34
Patrick Walitschek: Yes.

00:13:36
Matthias Rother: And with scars like the ones I’ve just described – raised and reddish – if you simply shine a light on them, you don’t need to do anything with your hands or manipulate them manually: Just leave it on for a few minutes – 10, 12, 15 minutes. That’s more than enough. You take the light off. You reduce the light pressure again and you can see a difference; the patient sees the difference too. They see it and realise: “Oh yes, now it feels much freer, much more relaxed.” You can also combine this to make it even more effective, using a small strip (unv.), which you then place on the scar afterwards, and you’ll achieve fantastic results with extremely simple methods. In my view, there’s no need for other options, such as injections or whatever else is out there.

00:14:41
Patrick Walitschek: Yes. That’s definitely very interesting too.

00:14:44
Matthias Rother: You really don’t need them. I can recall one case: There was a scar causing significant discomfort for a patient in the lower lumbar spine region, the hip and pelvis area; the sacroiliac joint in that region was largely responsible for this disturbance or irritation, and we actually reached (unint.) our limits there and said: “But it’s so adhered in the deeper layers. Something must have gone wrong during the suturing after the operation. This is as far as we can get, and we can’t go any further.”

00:15:25
Matthias Rother: And so that was the only case in all those many, many years, as far as I can recall, where it didn’t lead to a successful outcome. It actually had to be revised surgically. That’s an extreme case. But the patient then went to see a specialist surgeon, who assessed it, saw it exactly as I did, and said: “Yes, there’s something in the deeper layers. Some of the layers have been sutured incorrectly.” He then corrected it surgically, and after that it was really fine. Following that procedure, we simply provided follow-up treatment a few more times using electrical stimulation and, of course, light therapy. And the outcome was subsequently very satisfactory.

00:16:15
Patrick Walitschek: Okay. Very interesting. If we take the classic physiotherapy practice, or a naturopathic practice, or even an orthopaedic practice as an example: What are, at first glance – let’s say – the top three indications where you’d say microcurrent is definitely the way to go – whether in combination with light or not, let’s leave that aside for now?

00:16:50
Matthias Rother: That’s tricky. It’s difficult to draw up a sort of ‘best-of’ list off the top of my head. Basically, for all biomechanical issues, I think it’s unbeatable. Biomechanical issues can, in principle, be anything. They could be classic back problems. No matter where: in the lumbar region, the thoracic region, or the cervical-shoulder-neck area – cervical spine syndrome, cervical blockages. Everything that falls within this broad field. For me, microcurrent and LED light are unbeatable in therapy because you achieve good results using precisely this combined treatment – as I described at the start – LED light alongside manual therapy. It’s unbeatable because I can achieve good results quite effectively, quickly and with lasting effects. It’s also unbeatable because, when I work in this way, I can carry out a very effective diagnosis of the problem.

00:18:15
Matthias Rother: When someone is referred to me by a doctor, or patients come to me on their own initiative – for whatever reason – and they tell me: ‘I have this, that and the other,’ then my first step is to find out: what is the actual problem? Simply applying the well-known ‘Davos method’ isn’t always the answer. In many cases, the problem isn’t actually located where it hurts, so we first have to investigate: ‘Where is this coming from? Where does this biomechanical irritation, asymmetry – however you choose to describe it – come from? What’s the cause?” That’s what you have to find out first.

00:19:04
Patrick Walitschek: Yes.

00:19:05
Matthias Rother: Take, for example, a shoulder-neck problem that’s sometimes been lurking for years, and which fluctuates – sometimes better, sometimes worse – as so often happens, or as patients so often describe it: “I used to have a bit of this and that, but now it’s getting worse and worse, and the intervals between flare-ups are getting shorter and shorter.” And that’s always a sign that there must be a – let’s call it – biomechanical fault somewhere else entirely. So these could be old injuries to the lower limbs in athletes or former athletes, old foot injuries, old knee injuries – who knows what – or old muscle injuries that were severe, where there are serious adhesions, where function is simply no longer as it should be and where that function is also particularly asymmetrical.

00:20:11
Matthias Rother: And when you consider this in combination with the fact that such people simply take up a sport like jogging, for example: I don’t want to say anything against that in principle; there’s nothing wrong with it. Anyone who gets active – in whatever way – is certainly doing something good with good intentions to begin with, but with a sporting activity like jogging, the movement pattern is very linear. So you run straight ahead at a certain pace, let’s put it that way. If there’s a functional asymmetry in the system, your running becomes increasingly lopsided because you have to constantly compensate for it. If you have a functional asymmetry and one limb – one leg – isn’t functioning optimally, you have to constantly compensate for it, and inevitably, at some point, this will lead to compensatory problems in the hip-pelvis area, the lumbar region or the neck – whether muscular or in the form of blockages. That’s actually inevitable.

00:21:22
Matthias Rother: If you practise a different sport that involves considerable variety – where there are frequent changes in pace and direction, and a very broad range of movements, and so on and so forth – then such asymmetries do not have such a significant impact, or at any rate it takes considerably longer for them to perhaps become apparent, and in all these cases, light is simply also a crucial diagnostic or analytical tool because – as I wrote a few minutes ago – you can very quickly identify a structural issue, a painful, tense muscle structure, trigger points.

00:22:13
Matthias Rother: And, conversely, you can also use it to deduce: Is this now a problem for the overall issue, for the overall biomechanics? Yes or no? If, for example, I treat certain muscles in the lumbar region and nothing changes up there regarding the actual problem the patient has described – shoulder-neck syndrome – then we don’t really have a problem down here; in other words, that region isn’t particularly relevant. To put it another way, if I treat a muscle in the lumbar region – for example, the quadratus lumborum or the serratus posterior inferior – it’s very quick: two, three, perhaps four minutes. That’s enough to get a response from the body’s system and a few ‘compartments’ further up in the shoulder-neck area: Is anything happening there? Is anything getting better? If mobility improves – say, during a non-specific test rotation or lateral flexion – and that changes, then I know there’s something relevant up there. In principle, this allows me to scan the whole body and then carry out a very rapid fault analysis, quickly and clearly pinpointing exactly where I really need to focus my efforts in the end.

00:23:48
Patrick Walitschek: So, that was the first part of the interview with physiotherapist Matthias Rother, covering his approach and background to microcurrent therapy, specifically in physiotherapy. As I said, the second part of this interview will be out next week, and the third part the week after, as this interview consists of three episodes or parts in total. As usual, a reminder: do have a look at our YouTube channel. Do pop over to our website, LuXXaMed.de, and rate this podcast, wherever you listen to it. Criticism, etc. Suggestions for improvement or requests for topics are, of course, always welcome: Perhaps you have a great story to share about the use of microcurrent therapy and would like to talk about it on a podcast. That’s also very welcome, of course, and something we’d definitely love to do! Until then: all the best, thank you very much for tuning in, and see you next week.