Electrotherapy

1. 1Essentials of electricity and electrotherapy. Biophysical principles of the interaction between electrical current and biological tissues. Basic electrical quantities and parameters. Physiological and therapeutic effectsWhat electricity is, how a current behaves when it passes through skin, fat, muscle and nerve, the quantities and pulse settings every current is described by, and the effects a therapist can get from them. The groundwork for every electrotherapy topic that follows.

Direct current

1. 2Direct current and galvanization. Physical characteristics and biological effects. Techniques and methods of application. Dosage, indications, contraindications, and safety considerationsGalvanization is treatment with a steady direct current. This page covers what such a current is, what it does to ions, water, membranes and blood flow under each electrode, the electrodes and methods (stable, labile, rhythmic, local, segmental, general), how the dose is set, and when it is and is not used.
2. 3Iontophoresis. Physical and biophysical principles. Selection of polarity and pharmacological agents. Application techniques, dosage, indications, contraindications, and safety considerationsIontophoresis uses a direct current to push charged drug molecules through the skin. This page covers how it works, how the polarity and the drug are chosen, how it is applied and dosed, what it is used for, and when it must not be.

Low-frequency currents

1. 4Low-frequency pulsed currents. Classification, parameters, physiological and therapeutic effects. Application methods, dosage, indications, and contraindicationsLow-frequency pulsed currents are trains of short electrical pulses, up to 1,000 per second, that fire nerves and muscles. This page covers how they are classified, the parameters that describe them, what they do, and how the main currents of the professor's course are applied and dosed, from pulsed galvanic, tetanic and exponential currents to the diadynamic (Bernard) currents, high-voltage pulsed current and microcurrent.
2. 5Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) and functional electrical stimulation (FES). Physiological principles, stimulation parameters, therapeutic goals, and clinical applicationsNeuromuscular electrical stimulation makes muscles contract through surface electrodes, to strengthen them and keep them from wasting; functional electrical stimulation times those contractions so that a paralysed limb does a useful task, such as lifting the foot in walking. This page covers how they work, the parameters, what they aim at and where they are used.
3. 6Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS). Mechanisms of analgesic action, principal stimulation modes and parameters, therapeutic parameters, dosage, indications, and contraindicationsTENS sends small, short pulses of current through the skin to switch pain down in the spinal cord and brainstem. This page explains how it works, its modes and settings, how to dose it, where it helps, and where it must not be used.
4. 7Essentials of electrodiagnosis. Assessment of neuromuscular excitability. Role in diagnosis, prognosis, and rehabilitation planningElectrodiagnosis tests how easily nerve and muscle can be made to fire, to tell whether a muscle still has its nerve. This page covers the classical tests (the strength-duration curve, rheobase, chronaxie, accommodation and the reaction of degeneration), where nerve conduction studies and EMG have taken over, and how the results guide diagnosis, prognosis and rehabilitation.

Medium-frequency currents

1. 8Medium-frequency currents. Physical characteristics, physiological and therapeutic effects. Dosage, indications, contraindications, and safety considerationsMedium-frequency currents are alternating currents of about 1 to 10 kHz that pass the skin easily and are shaped by a slow rhythm to make nerves and muscles respond. This page covers their physics, why nerves react to them as they do, their kinds and effects, how they are dosed, and where they are and are not used.
2. 9Interferential current therapy. Biophysical principles, application methods and techniques. Selection of therapeutic parameters, dosage, and clinical applicationsInterferential current crosses two medium-frequency currents of slightly different frequency, so that they add up into a slow beat that the nerves follow. This page explains the physics of that beat, the four-pole and two-pole methods, how the beat frequency, sweep and vector are chosen, the dose, and where it is used.
3. 10Sinusoidally modulated currents (SMC). Characteristics, physiological effects, application methods, dosage, indications, and contraindicationsSinusoidal modulated currents (SMC, amplipulse therapy) are a medium-frequency carrier whose strength the device swells and fades at a low frequency, in four working types. This page covers how they are built, what each type and setting does, how they are applied and dosed, and where they are and are not used.