ELECTROTHERAPY

Dr Ramaiah Choudhary
Physiotherapist
MPT Ortho
Electrotherapy generally includes various forms of
therapeutic applications using electricity as the
primary source of energy.
Electrotherapy is a non-surgical treatment approach
characterized by the treatment of various diseases
and disorders with the help of electricity or electrical
means.
 Frequency is the number of occurrence of any
event per unit time.
 In electrotherapy, we use the currents whose
impulses commence and cease at regular interval.
 The number of times these impulses comes
in a particular unit time (second) is
regarded as frequency.
 Usually it is expressed in cycles per second or
hertz, kilohertz, megahertz, etc.
• Low frequency current :Low frequency currents
are therapeutically used currents whose frequency is
in the range of 0 to 100 cycles/second.
• The primary use of low frequency current is the
stimulation of nerve and muscle.
• Various current in this category which are used for
the physiotherapeutic treatments are:
direct current,
interrupted direct current,
sinusoidal current,
diadynamic current,
high voltage pulsed galvanic current,
micro amperage electrical nerve stimulation,
transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, etc.
Medium frequency current:
• Medium frequency currents are therapeutically
used currents whose frequency is in the range of
1000 to 10,000 cycles /seconds.
• They are basically used to stimulate deeply
situated muscles and nerves since it’s difficult
to stimulate these muscles and nerves by low
frequency currents
• Clinically they are used for :
muscle re-education,
to retard the rate of muscle atrophy,
drainage of edema and
for pain relief.
Various currents in this category, which are used for
physiotherapeutic purpose, are
 Russian current,
 Interferential current, etc.
High frequency current:
• High frequency currents are therapeutically
used currents whose frequency is > 10,000
cycles/sec.
• High frequency currents are used for their
ability to produce the deep heat inside the
tissues.
• Various electrotherapeutic modalities, which
work on this type of currents, are:
short wave diathermy,
long wave diathermy,
therapeutic ultrasound, and
microwave diathermy.
Phototherapy :
• Phototherapy refers to the treatment of various
diseases and disorders with the help of light.
• The primary effect of these phototherapeutic
modalities is pain relief by heat and
acceleration of healing through elevation of
temperature, counterirritation and
photochemical effects.
Various modalities such as:
Infrared rays,
ultraviolet rays and
laser comes under this category.
Electrodiagnosis :
• Electrical currents can also be used for the diagnostic
purpose.
• Electrodiagnosis means the detection of the diseases
and disorders by the use of electrotherapeutic currents
or electromyography.
• We can use currents like interrupted direct current and
perform various electrodiagnostic tests such as
Rheobase,
Chronaxie,
Strength duration curve,
galvanic tetanic ratio,
nerve conduction test,
nerve distribution test,
faradic galvanic test, etc.
Electromyography: It is the study of electrical
activity of the muscle by means of surface
electrodes placed over the skin or needle electrodes
inserted in the muscle itself.
• By electromyography we can study motor unit
potential, motor nerve conduction velocity, sensory
nerve conduction velocity, etc.
Biofeedback :
• Biofeedback is the process of furnishing the
information to an individual about the body
function so as to get some voluntary control over it.
• Some biofeedback devices are related to
electrotherapy and hence, they can be included
under electrotherapy for example EMG
biofeedback.
CLASSIFICATION OF CURRENTS:
Therapeutic currents can be classified on the basis of
direction, frequency, voltage, amperage and
biophysical effects in different ways.
On the basis of direction:
On the basis of the direction of the flow, therapeutic
currents can be classified as:
Unidirectional currents and
Alternating currents.
Unidirectional currents are those that flow in one
direction only for example- direct current and
interrupted direct current.
Alternating currents flow in both the directions. Examples
of this type of currents are -sinusoidal current and
interferential currents.
On the basis of frequency:
On the basis of the frequency therapeutic currents can
be classified as:
 Low frequency,
Medium frequency and
 High frequency currents.
Examples and more about these currents are
mentioned earlier.
On the basis of voltage :
On this basis, therapeutic currents are classified as:
low voltage and
high voltage currents.
Low voltage currents: are with a voltage of < 100
volts for example low frequency currents.
High voltage currents: are of several hundred volts
for example high frequency currents.
On the basis of amperage :
On the basis of amperage the currents are divided into
two
types such as :
low amperage and
high amperage currents.
Low amperage currents : These area those currents
whose amperage ranges from 1 to 30 milliampears and
are same as that of low voltage currents.
High amperage currents: have amperage from 500 to
2000 milliampears and are usually of high tension.
On the basis of biophysical effects :
On this basis currents can be divided into two types such
as :
currents causing ionic changes and
currents causing thermal changes.
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