Why the Release Matters as Much as the Contraction
Medically reviewed by
4 independent reviewers
Andrew Conrad Barile, PT, DPT
Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) | Licensed Physical Therapist (PT) | CEO and Founder, Xtreem Pulse LLC
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Dr. Andrew Conrad Barile is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and the CEO and Founder of Xtreem Pulse LLC, the engineering company behind PureLift. He earned his Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Daemen College and is a licensed physical therapist.
He brings over two decades of clinical and entrepreneurial experience across physical therapy, craniosacral therapy and medical device innovation, built on a working knowledge of human anatomy and muscle physiology.
For PureLift LAB he reviews how current is delivered across all ten levels, from sub-sensory nanocurrent and skin-level microcurrent to motor-level EMS, and how the Infuse pass fits into the same ten-minute routine.
Bertica M. Rubio, M.D.
Board-Certified Physician, Dartmouth Medical School | Medical Director, Antiaging Regenerative Medicine Clinic
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Dr. Bertica M. Rubio is a board-certified physician and Medical Director of the Antiaging Regenerative Medicine Clinic in Redlands, California. She earned her Doctor of Medicine from Dartmouth Medical School and completed her pediatrics residency at UC Irvine Medical Center.
With decades of clinical experience, she specialises in age management medicine, regenerative medicine, wound healing and growth factor therapies, and her practice integrates evidence-based medical science with advanced aesthetic treatment.
For PureLift LAB she reviews articles for medical accuracy across the whole dial, from the gentle nanocurrent and microcurrent settings through to muscle-level EMS and the Infuse pass.
Daniel Grinberg, MD, FACS
Board-Certified Otolaryngologist | Head and Neck Surgeon | Fellow, American College of Surgeons | Mount Sinai
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Daniel Grinberg, MD, FACS is a board-certified otolaryngologist and head and neck surgeon at ENT and Allergy Associates in West Nyack, New York. He earned his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
He completed his otolaryngology residency at New York University Medical Center, serves as Assistant Clinical Professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and is a Fellow of both the American College of Surgeons and the American Academy of Otolaryngology.
For PureLift LAB he brings a wider clinical lens, connecting at-home facial stimulation from microcurrent to EMS to the anatomy underneath, with the same rigour we apply to every device specification.
Prof. Dr. med. Ivo Buschmann
Chair of Angiology, Medizinische Hochschule Brandenburg | Clinic Director, University Clinic for Angiology
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Prof. Dr. med. Ivo Buschmann is Chair of Angiology at the Medizinische Hochschule Brandenburg Theodor Fontane and Clinic Director of the University Clinic for Angiology at the Brandenburg University Hospital.
He trained at the University of Hamburg, was a Max Planck Society Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, and held senior consultant posts at the Charite Universitatsmedizin Berlin before his appointment as Chair in 2016.
One of Europe's leading authorities on arteriogenesis, with over 150 peer-reviewed publications and US and EU patents, he reviews for PureLift LAB how the evidence on electrical stimulation is read and where its limits lie.
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A muscle that never releases is not toned, it is tight, and tight muscle reads as heavy in the face rather than lifted.
This article covers what actually decides the answer, such as:
- What happens during the contraction
- What happens during the release
- Why a permanent contraction is the wrong goal
- What this means for how you use a device
- Where frequency comes into it
and many more!
The release is where the blood flow happens, so it is doing as much work as the contraction is.
Key Points:
A contracting muscle squeezes its own blood vessels; the release is when circulation returns.
Cycling also pumps lymph, which is why a session drains as well as tones.
Moving the probe too fast means no area completes a full cycle.
An already-tight muscle, such as a clenched masseter, needs releasing rather than stimulating.
Three minutes per side is the maximum, and longer does not mean more cycles' worth of benefit.
What happens during the contraction
The nerve fires, the muscle fibres shorten, and the muscle squeezes everything inside it, including its own blood supply. That is why a sustained contraction anywhere in the body becomes uncomfortable: the tissue is working while its supply is pinched.
The contraction is also the loading. Muscle adapts to being loaded, which is the whole basis for Kavanagh and colleagues measuring an 18.6 percent increase in cheek muscle thickness over 12 weeks of motor-level stimulation (10.1111/jocd.12007).
What happens during the release
Blood returns. The vessels that were compressed reopen and the tissue is resupplied, which is the reason a cycling session leaves the face looking flushed and fresher rather than drained.
Lymph moves too. The lymphatic system has no pump and relies on muscle contraction as one of its three mechanisms, so a contract-release cycle is a pump, working the way the body's own arrangement works.
And the muscle recovers enough to do it again, which is what allows a ten minute session to consist of many cycles rather than one long hold.
Why a permanent contraction is the wrong goal
People sometimes imagine that more contraction means more tone, and more or less the opposite is true past a point.
A masseter that is contracted most of the night from clenching is not a well-toned masseter; it is an overworked one, and the visible result is a squarer, heavier lower face rather than a sharper one. Stimulating it electrically asks a muscle already doing too much to do more.
Tone in the useful sense is a muscle that contracts well and releases fully, not one that is permanently switched on.
What this means for how you use a device
Move slowly. Most people move the probe about twice as fast as the cycle wants, so no single area ever completes a full contract and release before the probe has moved on.
Let the muscle finish. If you can see the contraction in the mirror, watch it rise and fall before moving; that rhythm is the pacing you want.
Do not chase intensity. A higher level does not produce a better cycle, and past a comfortable point it mostly produces a session you will not repeat.
Three minutes per side is the maximum on any PureLift model, and the ten minute session ends on its own.
Where frequency comes into it
Hold a nerve at a single fixed frequency and it accommodates, so the response falls off while the current stays the same and the cycling becomes less effective as the session goes on.
PDM cycles through 361 frequency points between 1,370 and 1,730 Hz rather than holding one. Downey and colleagues tested the principle in a neuromuscular protocol (PMID 21996798), and Papaiordanidou and colleagues report a case where modulation did not help (10.1371/journal.pone.0084740).
Pro Plus and GLOW add PDM++, a bipolar pulse that builds and releases charge gradually, so the rise and fall of each pulse is smoother.
If a muscle is already tight
Release it before working it. Firm slow pressure on the muscle itself, and jaw relaxation through the day if clenching is the cause.
If you wake with a sore jaw or headaches, a dentist has more to offer than any facial device, and dealing with the clenching first makes everything else more comfortable.
For the jawline diagnostic, see how to reduce the look of a puffy jawline, and for the full technology breakdown, how the nine PureLift technologies work.