Sore muscles, reduced power and slower recovery are familiar after hard training. Peripheral magnetic stimulation is being studied for its effects on muscle sensitivity, pain and post-exercise performance.
Recovery is a major part of physical performance. After intense or unfamiliar exercise, delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) can bring muscle tenderness, discomfort and temporary reductions in performance. Peripheral magnetic stimulation can activate peripheral nerves and muscles without requiring voluntary contraction, which has led researchers to explore whether it can influence different aspects of recovery.
In professional soccer players, Keriven et al. investigated peripheral electromagnetic stimulation after an eccentric-exercise protocol designed to induce DOMS. Stimulation did not significantly improve muscle strength or power, but it was associated with reduced muscle sensitivity during recovery, measured as an increased pressure pain threshold. The result suggests a potential effect on pain-related aspects of recovery rather than a general acceleration of muscular performance recovery. [3]
When peripheral and brain stimulation are combined
A related four-arm randomized trial in 48 young athletes compared peripheral stimulation alone, transcranial stimulation alone, combined stimulation and no stimulation. The combined intervention was associated with greater improvements in DOMS-related pain and pressure pain threshold, together with better recovery of half-squat and sprint performance than the other groups. [4]
Related publications reported greater muscle activation, improvements in selected lower-limb performance measures and changes in heart-rate variability during recovery [5,6]. These papers share a trial registration and matching sample characteristics with the earlier combined-stimulation report [4], suggesting that they describe different outcomes from the same underlying trial rather than independent replications [4–6].
These studies make the recovery story interesting, but they also make an important distinction clear: the broadest effects were observed when peripheral stimulation was combined with transcranial stimulation. They cannot therefore be attributed to peripheral magnetic stimulation alone. [3-6]
Beyond sport: Muscle pain and headache
The potential effects of peripheral magnetic stimulation are not limited to exercise recovery. Studies targeting upper-trapezius myofascial pain have reported improvements in pain-related outcomes and cervical range of motion. [1,2]
Researchers have examined whether peripheral stimulation of the neck and shoulder region may also influence headache symptoms. In a pilot study of 20 young adults with migraine, rPMS applied to active trigger points in the upper trapezius was associated with reductions in headache frequency and intensity and was well accepted by participants (Sollmann et al., 2016). A subsequent randomized study in 37 people with high-frequency episodic migraine found reductions in headache days and migraine-related disability following six sessions of rPMS (Renner et al., 2020). However, improvements occurred following both trapezius and deltoid stimulation, and the study did not include a sham condition. [7,8]
References
[1] Smania N, Corato E, Fiaschi A, et al. Repetitive magnetic stimulation: a novel therapeutic approach for myofascial pain syndrome. J Neurol. 2005; 252(3):307-314. doi:10.1007/s00415-005-0642-1.
[2] Mahisanun T, Saengsuwan J. Effect of Repetitive Peripheral Magnetic Stimulation in Patients with Neck Myofascial Pain: A Randomized Sham-Controlled Crossover Trial. J Clin Med. 2025; 14(15):5410. doi:10.3390/jcm14155410.
[3] Keriven H, Sanchez-Sierra A, Minambres-Martin D, et al. Effects of peripheral electromagnetic stimulation after an eccentric exercise-induced delayed-onset muscle soreness protocol in professional soccer players: a randomized controlled trial. Front Physiol. 2023; 14:1206293. doi:10.3389/fphys.2023.1206293.
[4] Keriven H, Sanchez Sierra A, Gonzalez de-la-Flor A, et al. Effects of combined treatment with transcranial and peripheral electromagnetic stimulation on performance and pain recovery from delayed onset muscle soreness induced by eccentric exercise in young athletes: a randomized clinical trial. Front Physiol. 2023; 14:1267315. doi:10.3389/fphys.2023.1267315.
[5] Keriven H, Sanchez-Sierra A, Gonzalez-de-la-Flor A, et al. Neurophysiological outcomes of combined transcranial and peripheral electromagnetic stimulation on DOMS among young athletes: A randomized controlled trial. PLoS One. 2025; 20(7):e0312960. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0312960.
[6] Keriven H, Sierra AS, Gonzalez-de-la-Flor A, et al. Influence of combined transcranial and peripheral electromagnetic stimulation on the autonomous nerve system on delayed onset muscle soreness in young athletes: a randomized clinical trial. J Transl Med. 2025; 23:306. doi:10.1186/s12967-025-06238-3.
[7] Sollmann N, Trepte-Freisleder F, Albers L, et al. Magnetic stimulation of the upper trapezius muscles in patients with migraine – A pilot study. Eur J Paediatr Neurol. 2016; 20(6):888-897. doi:10.1016/j.ejpn.2016.07.022.
[8] Renner T, Sollmann N, Heinen F, et al. Alleviation of migraine symptoms by application of repetitive peripheral magnetic stimulation to myofascial trigger points of neck and shoulder muscles – A randomized trial. Sci Rep. 2020; 10:5954. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-62701-9.
