Electrotherapy

Electrotherapy is a medical treatment that uses electricity to stimulate nerves and muscles to relieve symptoms such as pain and paralysis. Ancient civilizations were known to apply electric sea animals to wounds for pain relief purposes. Studies revolving around the use of electric current therapy as a medical treatment date back to the eighteenth century. Since then, doctors have found many uses for electrotherapy, ranging from pain relief to wound healing to mood altering. Studies in electrotherapy also led to the emergence of other electric current–based therapies such as electroconvulsive therapy and deep brain stimulation.

Background

Electricity as a form of therapy has existed in various forms for many centuries. In ancient times, Greeks were known to apply electric sea creatures such as rays to their heads to relieve headaches. People continued to use electric marine life as a pain reliever throughout the medieval period until the advent of electrostatic electricity. By the mid-eighteenth century, doctors were using this type of electricity to produce numbness in patients. The practice of using electricity in medicine was referred to as Franklinism, after Benjamin Franklin, whose experiments proved that clouds are charged with electricity.

As methods advanced, electricity therapy saw continued usage by the medical community. Early names for electricity treatments included medical electricity and electrotherapeutics. By the end of the nineteenth century, scientific advancements gave physicians new grounds by which to promote the therapy. Views on electrotherapy were bolstered by the new scientific theory that the living human body contained electrical energy and this is what distinguished living matter from the dead, inanimate matter. This theory was first proposed by Italian physician Luigi Galvani in 1791. Galvani's theory intrigued the public, even seeping into the literature of the period, most famously in the 1818 novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, by English writer Mary Shelley. In the novel, a doctor pieces together a man using body parts from various corpses and reanimates the creature with powerful volts of electricity. Despite the public fascination with electricity, expert opinion related to the usage of electricity for medical purposes remained a matter of great debate.

Supporters of Galvani's theory believed electrical currents had the ability to enhance a person's natural electrical energy, and therefore application of these currents could treat disease or injury. The Galvanic current, as it came to be known, was also used to treat disorders such as depression, and records from the early 1800s describe the treatment as being most effective at relieving depression when applied to the head. Doctors eventually added the usage of needles to medical electricity therapies, believing electrically charged needles that pierced the tissue could more precisely treat issues related to pain and motion. This practice was called electroacupuncture and practitioners most commonly utilized it to stimulate muscles and nerves to alleviate, and sometimes anesthetize, pain.

Further advances in the study of electricity led to the introduction of alternating currents, electric currents that reverse direction at regular intervals. As doctors continued developing medical electricity therapies, they began to realize that alternating electric currents was more beneficial to muscle pain relief than direct electrical currents, which had the potential to damage tissues. Opinions about electrotherapy were still mixed by the mid-twentieth century. Its favorability eventually declined due to the tedious nature of its usage, which could involve a long process of discovery per a patient's ideal method of stimulation.

Despite its waning usage, researchers continued to examine how electrotherapy could potentially benefit health throughout the remainder of the twentieth century. By the twenty-first century, despite little data supporting its efficacy, physicians began to revisit usage of electrotherapy for issues such as pain relief and neurological damage.

Overview

Modern electrotherapy is primarily used to treat issues such as nerve pain, neuromuscular dysfunction, chronic inflammation, tissue damage, circulatory issues, and edema. Electrotherapy for nerve pain is utilized to block pain signals that nerves send to the brain, therefore reducing any pain felt. One type of electrotherapy used in the treatment of nerve pain is called percutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (PENS). This treatment is similar to electroacupuncture in that it delivers painless electrical currents to the nerves through acupuncture needles. Studies related to the effectiveness of PENS vary, and the treatment is not right for all patients.

Another type of electrotherapy is called repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). This treatment utilizes the magnetic field to deliver electrical pulses to the brain and blocks pain signals. Although it is effective, relief by rTMS is usually temporary. Repeated sessions are often recommended to increase the longevity of pain relief.

Other forms of electrotherapy include ultrasound, interferential therapy, laser therapy, and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS). Although ultrasound is technically a mechanical energy and not an electrical energy, the practice is still grouped with electrotherapy terminology. Ultrasound uses sound waves to speed up healing in tissues. Laser therapy uses low-level lasers to repair damaged tissue. Interferential therapy and TENS manipulate nerves to reduce pain and often produce a tingling feeling in the stimulated areas.

The success rate of electrotherapy varies per person, but benefits can include pain relief, a faster healing process, increased muscle tone, and improved circulation. Patients can also experience an increase in strength and range of movement. Some also see an increase in muscle contraction strength.

Studies in electrotherapy have led to the development of new electricity-based therapies such as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and deep brain stimulation (DBS). ECT involves passing electric currents through the brain to trigger a short seizure. The goal of ECT is to change a person's brain chemistry to eliminate symptoms of certain mental illnesses. ECT was a dangerous procedure when first introduced, as doctors were known to administer extremely high doses of electric currents into a patient's brain. Modern ECT, however, involves much lower dosages of electricity and is much safer.

DBS is a surgical procedure that treats a number of debilitating neurological symptoms. The treatment is primarily used for easing the symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Patients who receive DBS have a medical device called a neurostimulator implanted in their brains. The neurostimulator delivers electrical impulses to specific areas of the brain that control movement. These impulses block abnormal nerve signals that cause Parkinson's disease symptoms such as tremoring, rigidity, slowed or impaired movement, and stiffness.

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