Electrotherapy is a treatment that was initially developed to relieve pain. Its modes of treatment mainly involve the passing of electrical impulses or current through the problematic areas as an effective way of interfering with the development of symptoms and diseases and stimulating the healing process. For more than 30 years, electrotherapy has been involved in various pain management and rehabilitation procedures. With the increasing awareness of the dangers of the side-effects of pharmaceutical therapies, electrotherapy is starting to get attention as one of the best forms of alternative treatment.
Nature of Treatment
Electrotherapy uses small doses of electric current to jump-start intracellular activities and stimulate cell regeneration or healing process. Electrotherapy devices usually have electrodes, which are responsible for delivering the current to the affected area. Receiving no drugs or chemicals that pose substantial risks for side-effects, the patient undergoing this form of treatment is administered with a certain intensity of current to alleviate the pain and symptoms related to diseases such as chronic arthritis and muscle problems.
Short-Term Benefits
Electrotherapy is primarily involved with pain relief. It mediates the delivery of pain signals into the brain. In administering specific intensities of current, it slows down or blocks the transmission of the pain signals through the neural fibers, which in turn can minimize the discomfort brought by arthritic inflammation, back and neck pain and even pains brought by muscle injuries, particularly among athletes. In some cases, electrotherapy is used to effectively deliver analgesics and anti-inflammatory medications on problematic areas such as incisions, fractures and labor pains.
Long-Term Benefits
The therapy promotes physiochemical changes and stimulates muscle contraction to alleviate the symptoms and severity of common health complaints. The American Physical Therapy Association acknowledges some of the known electrotherapy rehabilitation benefits such as treatment to neuromuscular dysfunction, improvement of strength, improvement of motor control, slowing down of muscle atrophy, improving blood flow on injured areas, tissue repair, stimulation of wound healing, connective and dermal tissue restoration, and many others. It is helpful in managing the pain associated with the rehabilitative treatments involved in improving the movement and range of motion of the affected area. Hence, it is one of the safest methods to use for long-term pain management and is very helpful in preventing post-surgical complications such as venous thrombosis.
Treatment Advantage
Electrotherapy carries a number of advantages over drug and surgical methods of treatments. As it is drug-free, non-invasive and non-addictive, it relieves the patients of the risk of health problems related to drug side-effects. Compared to drugs, it directly targets the exact area of pain. It may be cheaper than drugs and surgeries, but it is very effective in reducing pain and swelling and in promoting muscle spasms. Plus, it does not deliver unwanted side effects.
Warning
While electrotherapy is generally safe to use, it may not be the ideal treatment for people who are under narcotic medications, who have hyposensitive body areas or undiagnosed pain, or who are pregnant. Patients with cardiac pacemakers must never attempt undergoing electrotherapy without consulting their physicians. This form of treatment is also not safe for people with metal implants, people who have recently undergone ionizing radiation treatments, and people with severe diabetic conditions. Hence, caution must be observed by people who are planning to undergo electrotherapy treatment. In all cases, seek your doctor's approval first.
Tags: affected area, form treatment, healing process, pain management, pain signals