Electrotherapy represents using electric current for therapeutical purposes. Its medical application was discovered via many positive effects on muscular and neural structures.
Electrotherapy leads to the feeling of warmth which influences the dilatation of blood vessels, has analgetic influence because of its neural endings stimulation (which are responsible for pain transfer), enhances muscle mass, and stimulates damaged nerves. Diadynamic current can have a strong antiedematous effect.
All this tells us that electrotherapy represents an important and unavoidable part in the rehabilitation. There are several ways to implement electrotherapy in physical medicine:
- TENS – transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation
- galvanization – treatment with direct current
- interferential therapy – middle frequency current . Also called Nemec or endogenous electrical current
- electrotherapy – vacuum
- diadynamic therapy– low frequency current with 4 main modulations. Used for analgetic and antiedematous effect
- iontophoresis – placing the medicine under the electrodes to insert it under the skin
- muscle electrostimulation – muscle contraction is achieved (used to strengthen the muscles)
- neural electrostimulation – this current is a strong neural fibre stimulans, and thus ahas a regenerative effect
Electrotherapy is applied for about 20 minutes, while neural and muscle stimulation takes about 30 minutes.
