TECAR therapy, defined.
- TECAR therapy, also called CRet (which stands for Capacitive and Resistive Energy Transfer), is a non-invasive physiotherapy treatment that uses a radiofrequency current at around 500 kHz to create deep heat inside muscle, tendon, ligament, and joint tissue.
- The important part is that your own tissue becomes the heat source. The warmth is generated from the inside out, rather than being applied to the surface of your skin like a hot pack.
- It is not a heat pack, it is not therapeutic ultrasound, and it is not a standalone cure. It is one step inside a wider physiotherapy plan.
- Medstar Sport Physio and Health in North Vancouver is, as far as we are aware, the only clinic in the Metro Vancouver area that offers TECAR therapy.
What the letters actually mean.
TECAR stands for Transfer of Energy Capacitive and Resistive. The other name you will see, CRet, stands for Capacitive and Resistive Energy Transfer. They describe the same treatment. The two words "capacitive" and "resistive" simply name the two ways the device can send a radiofrequency current through your body.
A radiofrequency current is a fast alternating electrical signal, the same family of signal used in many medical heating devices. In TECAR it runs at around 500 kHz, which is a frequency chosen to pass safely through the body and warm tissue without causing a shock or a burn on the skin. The capacitive mode focuses the warming on softer tissue closer to the surface, and the resistive mode reaches deeper tissue and areas near bone. A separate page in this hub walks through how the two modes differ.
What it physically does to your body.
The simplest way to picture it is heat from the inside out. When you put a hot water bottle on a sore back, the heat sits on the skin and slowly fades before it reaches the muscle underneath. TECAR works the other way around. The radiofrequency current passes into the tissue and the tissue itself warms up, so the deep muscle and joint structures get warm directly. Clinicians often call this endogenous heat, which simply means heat made within the body rather than applied from outside.
That deep warming tends to relax tight, guarded muscle and increase local blood flow in the area being treated. For many people that makes a stiff joint feel looser and a guarded muscle feel less protective for a while. The honest framing is that this effect is a useful starting point for the real work of rehab, not a finished result. If you want the step-by-step mechanism, the how TECAR works page goes deeper.
Where TECAR came from.
TECAR has been part of European sports medicine for years. Physiotherapists working with professional football, cycling, and tennis teams used it to help athletes recover between hard training sessions and to settle tissue down after an acute injury, so they could get back to training sooner. Over time it moved from the elite sport setting into general physiotherapy clinics across Europe.
It is much newer to Canada, and that is the main reason it is still unfamiliar here. A treatment can be well established in one part of the world and almost unknown in another. That gap is worth keeping in mind when you read about it, because the research base is still developing and most of the longer-term studies come from outside North America.
What TECAR is not.
It helps to be clear about the things TECAR is often confused with. It is not a heat pack, because the warmth is generated inside the tissue rather than sitting on the skin. It is not therapeutic ultrasound, which uses sound waves and produces only mild surface heating. And it is not a standalone cure that you can book on its own and expect to fix a problem.
This last point matters most. TECAR is a health treatment, and like any health treatment it should be honest about its limits. The current evidence supports it as a helpful tool that can make tissue more responsive to hands-on care and exercise. It does not replace a proper diagnosis, a treatment plan, or the active rehab that actually builds lasting change. If your symptoms include numbness, severe unexplained pain, or anything that feels like an emergency, contact your doctor or, in an urgent situation, call 911 or go to Lions Gate Hospital. You can also check general guidance at HealthLinkBC.
How Medstar uses TECAR in a session.
At our North Vancouver clinic, TECAR is never the whole appointment. We use it as a tissue-prep step near the start of a physiotherapy session. The physiotherapist warms the target area for several minutes, which relaxes muscle guarding and makes a stiff joint more willing to move. With the tissue prepared, the hands-on treatment and the exercise that follow are more comfortable and tend to go further.
That order matters. The deep warming opens a window, and the manual therapy and loading work done inside that window is what produces the change you keep. We do not sell TECAR-only packages, because heat alone does not hold. It is one part of a plan led by a physiotherapist who is registered with the College of Physical Therapists of British Columbia. Because we appear to be the only clinic offering TECAR in the Metro Vancouver area, people often travel across the North Shore to try it as part of their physiotherapy care.
Common questions.
What does the word TECAR stand for?+
TECAR stands for Transfer of Energy Capacitive and Resistive. You will also see it written as CRet, which means Capacitive and Resistive Energy Transfer. The two names describe the same treatment. Both point to the way the device moves a radiofrequency current through tissue in two different modes, capacitive and resistive.
Is TECAR the same as a heat pack or ultrasound?+
No. A heat pack warms the skin from the outside, and the warmth barely reaches past the layer of fat under the skin. Therapeutic ultrasound delivers gentle mechanical vibration with only mild surface heating. TECAR is different because it makes the tissue itself become the heat source, so the warmth reaches deeper muscle, tendon, and joint tissue that a heat pack cannot touch.
Is TECAR a cure on its own?+
No, and we would not present it that way. TECAR is one tool inside a physiotherapy plan. We use it to warm and relax tissue so that the hands-on treatment and the exercise that follow work better. The lasting improvement comes from that follow-on rehab work, not from the heat by itself.
Where did TECAR therapy come from?+
TECAR grew out of European sports medicine, where it has been used for years to help athletes recover between training sessions and return to play after injury. Professional football, cycling, and tennis teams have used it as part of their recovery routines. It is newer to clinics in Canada, which is part of why most people in North Vancouver have never heard of it.
Can I get TECAR therapy anywhere in Metro Vancouver?+
As far as we are aware, Medstar Sport Physio and Health at 1325 Marine Drive in North Vancouver is the only clinic in the Metro Vancouver area that offers TECAR therapy. If you want to try it, you will likely need to come to the North Shore.
Related reading
The only TECAR on the North Shore