History of
Electrotherapy
B.C.
Electricity had not yet been discovered when they started doing
fish treatments: during the era of Emperor Claudius they tried to
treat children with paralysis by putting electrical fish (electrical
catfish, electric ray and electric eel) into their baths. Their electrical
organs functioning as a condenser charges and discharges in
defense against a real or perceived attacker.
Later on it was also revealed, which type of fish is the most
effective for a given problem e.g. they used the electric ray for
headaches. This was the predecessor of shock treatment, a
process developed by Scribonius Largus.
1720
In 1720 Stephen Gray discovered that the human body is electrically-
conductive. In the 18th century electrical treatments began
to be consciously applied.
1780
Experiment on the muscles of the nerves, first electrical stimulation
of the muscles with the resulting muscle contractions; each
of these procesess is coined by Galvani and Volta.
The most significant step forward was Galvani’s discovery. He
observed that the muscles of the frog prepared for the experiment
started twitching every time the electric device discharged.
In addition, he also observed twitches in the frog’s muscles when
the nerves and muscles were connected to different types of
metals.
1800
This was later on further examined by Volta. He observed that
when two metals come into contact one would get positively
charged while the other negatively as long as they are in contact.
Since the 1800s electricity was extensively used in medicine.
Electric current, current density, treatment location and duration
become subjects of scientific research.
The next advance in applying the various form of electric current
was the utilization of selective stimulation current to treat weak
or paralyzed muscles.
19th c.
The first high-frequency electric stimulation was coined by the
French physicist Jacques D’Arsonval
Nemec introduced medium frequency treatments. With these
electric currents a medium frequency treatment was created,
which reduced the unpleasant effect of the shock and at the
same time made a deeper impact.
Low-frequency treatments have an intensity of 0 to 1000 Hz.
Some treatments were based on the 0 frequency Galvan electricity
therapy (also called direct current), while others used
a frequency of 1-1000 Hz for electric stimulation. Nowadays,
however, such devices on the market function with a max. of
250 Hz.
19-20th c.
Researchers of the 19th and 20th century (Weiss, Lapique)
studied the characteristics of electricity produced by muscular
movements. It was discovered that using electric stimulation the
human body could develop long term resistance. The rheobase
and chronaxie principles were introduced and became widely
applied.
1970
In the 1970s the Russian scientist Kots applied the Electric
Muscle Stimulation (EMS) technology on elite athletes and
achieved a 20% increase in his subjects’ muscle strength. By
the end of the ‘70s, the results of these studies were introduced
in the Western sports world as well.
1990
Since the 1990s these electric machines were reduced in size
and protocols were established for a more general use.