Electrotherapy treatment

This form of therapy uses electricity for medical treatment purposes, during which low, mid, and high-frequency treatments are provided. With the low and mid-frequency treatments, the patient senses the electricity: the electrode is in direct contact, through a gel, with the body part to be treated. The galvanic current belongs to the low frequency treatments, which has a painkilling, vasodilating and muscle-tension relaxing effect. It is used in a variety of ways: medication can be propelled through the skin (iontophoresis), it can be combined with hydrotherapy in the case of two-chambered or four-chambered galvanic treatments, or in the case of electrical baths. We also use impulse current: diadynamic current also belongs in this category, which is a combination of the voltaic current and of the impulse current, and its effects are painkilling and mildly congestive. Nowadays, one of the most popular painkilling therapies is TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) therapy, which is used mainly for musculoskeletal disorders. Selective stimulating treatment is used for treating the paretic muscles. The mid-frequency interference has a deeper effect. Besides physical exercise and painkilling, it is also used to treat swollen joints and local oedema. In the case of the high-frequency shortwave, there is a sense of heat but not of electricity, and the electrode has no direct contact with the part of the body to be treated. The local heat generation evokes vasodilation – increasing metabolism, circulation, the relaxation of muscles and the relaxation of connective tissues. Microwave electromagnetic radiation is another high-frequency treatment; its main effect is endogonous heat production and an increase in peripheral circulation. It is used mainly in treating musculoskeletal disorders, dermatological inflammation, dental problems and ENT disorders.