How it works
TECAR is a deep-heat treatment. A certified practitioner moves a handpiece over the area that hurts while a gentle radio-frequency current warms the muscles, tendons and joints underneath. A session takes about 30 minutes, and there are no drugs or needles.
What TECAR is
TECAR stands for transfer of energy, capacitive and resistive. It is a type of diathermy, which means deep heating, and physical therapists and sports clinics have used it for many years.
The OYATEC TECAR system passes a radio-frequency current between a handpiece and a metal plate placed under or beside your body. As the current crosses the tissue in between, the tissue warms up. The warmth comes from inside your body, not from a hot surface on your skin.
That warmth brings more blood to the area, relaxes tight muscle and eases pain. Your practitioner controls how deep the heat goes and how warm it gets.
Deep heat
A heat pack or a hot bath warms your skin first. The heat then has to travel inward, and most of it never reaches the deeper muscle or the joint. If you made the pack hot enough to reach that far, it would burn the skin.
TECAR works the other way round. The tissue between the handpiece and the plate makes its own heat, so the warmth builds where the problem is. Your skin stays comfortable.
Choose a heat source
TECAR, CET head
Warms the muscle itself, so tight spots relax.
How warm each layer gets
Two handpieces
The system has two handpieces. Your practitioner switches between them during a session, depending on where the problem is.
CETCET handpiece
The CET head has a coating that keeps the current from flowing straight into the skin. The current gathers in soft, watery tissue instead, so the heat builds in the muscle and the layers just under the skin.
Where the heat goes
Muscles, and the soft tissue just under the skin
RETRET handpiece
The RET head is bare metal, so the current passes straight into the body and through denser tissue. That puts the heat deeper, in tendons, ligaments, joints and the tissue around bone.
Where the heat goes
Tendons, ligaments, joints and the tissue around bone
Return plate
A flexible metal plate goes under your back, your leg or another part of your body, opposite the area being treated. It completes the circuit, so the current flows through the tissue in between.
In short: the flat head warms the muscle, the metal head reaches deeper into tendons and joints, and the plate under you completes the circuit.
Heat levels
Your practitioner chooses one of three heat levels, depending on how recent the injury is.
Athermic
Mild thermal
Deep thermal
Your session
A visit takes about 30 minutes. TECAR itself usually lasts 15 to 25 minutes of that.
They ask where it hurts, how long it has hurt and what makes it worse. They also check that nothing rules TECAR out for you, such as a pacemaker or pregnancy.
You uncover the area being treated. Your practitioner places the return plate under or beside you, against bare skin.
Your practitioner spreads a thin layer of OYATEC herbal gel over the area. It lets the head glide and carries the current evenly into the skin.
Your practitioner moves the head over the area and turns up the power bit by bit. At first you feel only the head's pressure. Then warmth builds under the skin.
Your practitioner asks how warm it feels. It should feel strong but comfortable. Say so at once if it ever feels too hot, and they will turn it down.
Many practitioners follow TECAR with massage, an adjustment, acupuncture or exercises while the tissue is warm and loose.
Most people stand up moving more easily than when they lay down. You can drive and go back to work straight away. Drink some water, and keep up any stretches you are given.
Afterwards
Most people feel looser and less sore right away. The area may feel warm for an hour or so.
Some people have mild soreness for up to a day, as you might after a deep massage. If it lasts longer, tell your practitioner, and they will use a lower setting next time.
The herbal gel
TECAR needs a gel between the head and the skin so the head can glide and the current can pass evenly. Most clinics use a plain conductive gel.
OYATEC clinics use a gel that Dr. Ouyang developed from herbs used in Chinese medicine for sore muscles and joints. He made it for his own patients, and he has used it with TECAR in his clinic for years. Every certified clinic uses it in every session.
How many sessions
Many people feel some relief after the first or second session. Lasting change usually takes a short series, often twice a week.
Your practitioner will suggest a plan after your first visit and will check your progress as you go.
A recent injury
From the last few weeks
4 to 6 sessions
An injury that is healing slowly
One to three months old
6 to 10 sessions
Long-standing pain
Pain you've had for months or years
10 or more sessions
Safety
TECAR is gentle, but it isn't right for everyone. Your practitioner will ask about these before your first session.
If you're unsure, ask your doctor before you book. TECAR does not replace medical care for new, severe or worsening pain.
The research
A 2022 review that pooled several trials found that people treated with TECAR had less pain after four and eight weeks than people given other treatments. The trials were small and used different methods, so researchers call the evidence promising rather than settled.
In the United States, the FDA has cleared similar devices from other makers to heat tissue to relieve pain, ease muscle spasm and increase local blood flow.
Every OYATEC clinic is run by a licensed practitioner who has completed our 10-hour training.
Not sure yet? Read patient questions