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History of Electrotherapy

Galvani discovered that touching a frog's leg with a metal knife caused it to twitch, thinking it was evidence of "animal electricity". However, Volta realized the twitching was caused by the interaction between the two different metals - the steel knife and tin plate - not electricity within the frog. Ampere was the first to explain electrodynamics mathematically and published on this in 1827. Faraday discovered that moving a magnet within a coil of copper wire produced a small electric current, showing magnetism could produce electricity. In the 1940s, the US War Department used direct current electrotherapy, employing galvanic exercises, to restore muscle mass and strength in patients with ulnar nerve injuries from hand wounds.

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246 views1 page

History of Electrotherapy

Galvani discovered that touching a frog's leg with a metal knife caused it to twitch, thinking it was evidence of "animal electricity". However, Volta realized the twitching was caused by the interaction between the two different metals - the steel knife and tin plate - not electricity within the frog. Ampere was the first to explain electrodynamics mathematically and published on this in 1827. Faraday discovered that moving a magnet within a coil of copper wire produced a small electric current, showing magnetism could produce electricity. In the 1940s, the US War Department used direct current electrotherapy, employing galvanic exercises, to restore muscle mass and strength in patients with ulnar nerve injuries from hand wounds.

Uploaded by

aldermac
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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In 1786, Luigi Galvani, an Italian professor of medicine, found that when the leg of a dead frog was

touched by a metal knife, the leg twitched violently. Galvani thought that the muscles of the frog must
contain electricity. He concluded that the twitching was evidence for the existence of animal electricity.
By 1792 another Italian scientist, Alessandro Volta, disagreed: he realized that the main factors in
Galvani's discovery were the two different metals - the steel knife and the tin plate - upon which the frog
was lying.

Andre Marie Ampere, a French mathematician who devoted himself to the study of electricity and
magnetism, was the first to explain the electrodynamic theory. A permanent memorial to Ampere is the
use of his name for the unit of electric current. In 1827 he published, "The galvanic Circuit Investigated
Mathematically"

Michael Faraday. Faraday was greatly interested in the invention of the electro-magnet, but his brilliant
mind took earlier experiments still further. If electricity could produce magnetism, why couldn't
magnetism produce electricity? In 1831, Faraday found the solution. Electricity could be produced
through magnetism by motion. He discovered that when a magnet was moved inside a coil of copper
wire, a tiny electric current flows through the wire.

During 1855 Guillaume Duchenne, the developer of electrotherapy, announced that alternating was
superior to direct current for electrotherapeutic triggering of muscle contractions

1940s, however, the US War Department, investigating the application of electrical stimulation not just
to retard and prevent atrophy but to restore muscle mass and strength, employed what was termed
galvanic exercise on the atrophied hands of patients who had an ulnar nerve lesion from surgery upon a
wound.These Galvanic exercises employed a monophasic wave form, direct current - electrochemistry.

Although a 1999 meta-analysis found that electrotherapy could speed the healing of wounds,during
2000 the Dutch Medical Council found that although it was widely used, there was insufficient evidence
for its benefits.Since that time, a few publications have emerged that seem to support its efficacy, but
data is still scarce.

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