This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

take notice to the symptoms treated. yes, they say all our symptom are due to this so called ms. but, I've tried therapy a lot and never was offered more than an occasional dinky little tens unit.

no wonder dr. wahl's thinking out of the box and useing what she does has helped.


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrotherapy

Electrotherapy

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Not to be confused with electroconvulsive therapy or electroshock therapy.



This article needs more medical references for verification or relies too heavily on primary sources. Please review the contents of the article and add the appropriate references if you can. Unsourced or poorly sourced material may be removed. (February 2009)
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Electrotherapy

Intervention
Reeve 41480.jpg
Use of electrical apparatus. Interrupted galvanism used in regeneration of deltoid muscle. First half of the twentieth century.


MeSH
D004599

Electrotherapy is the use of electrical energy as a medical treatment[1] In medicine, the term electrotherapy can apply to a variety of treatments, including the use of electrical devices such as deep brain stimulators for neurological disease. The term has also been applied specifically to the use of electric current to speed wound healing. Additionally, the term "electrotherapy" or "electromagnetic therapy" has also been applied to a range of alternative medical devices and treatments.





Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Current use
3 See also
4 References
5 Further reading
6 External links


History[edit]

In 1855 Guillaume Duchenne, the developer of electrotherapy, announced that alternating was superior to direct current for electrotherapeutic triggering of muscle contractions.[3] What he called the 'warming affect' of direct currents irritated the skin, since, at voltage strengths needed for muscle contractions, they cause the skin to blister (at the anode) and pit (at the cathode). Furthermore, with DC each contraction required the current to be stopped and restarted. Moreover alternating current could produce strong muscle contractions regardless of the condition of the muscle, whereas DC-induced contractions were strong if the muscle was strong, and weak if the muscle was weak.

Since that time almost all rehabilitation involving muscle contraction has been done with a symmetrical rectangular biphasic waveform. During the 1940s, however, the U.S. 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.[4] These Galvanic exercises employed a monophasic wave form, direct current.

In the field of cancer treatment, DC electrotherapy showed promise as early as 1959, when a study published in the journal Science reported total destruction of tumor in 60% of subjects, which was very noteworthy for an initial study.[5] In 1985, the journal CANCER RESEARCH published the most remarkable such study, reporting 98% shrinkage of tumor in animal subjects on being treated with DC electrotherapy for only 5 hours over 5 days.[6] The mechanism for the effectiveness of DC electrotherapy in treating cancer was suggested in an article published in 1997.[7] The free-radical (unpaired electron) containing active-site of enzyme Ribonucleotide Reductase, RnR—which controls the rate-limiting step in the synthesis of DNA—can be disabled by a stream of passing electrons.

Current use[edit]

Although a 1999 meta-analysis found that electrotherapy could speed the healing of wounds,[8] in 2000 the Dutch Medical Council found that although it was widely used, there was insufficient evidence for its benefits.[9] Since that time, a few publications have emerged that seem to support its efficacy, but data is still scarce.[10]

The use of electrotherapy has been researched and accepted in the field of rehabilitation[11] (electrical muscle stimulation). The American Physical Therapy Association acknowledges the use of Electrotherapy for:[12]

1. Pain management
Improves range of joint movement

2. Treatment of neuromuscular dysfunction
Improvement of strength
Improvement of motor control
Retards muscle atrophy
Improvement of local blood flow

3. Improves range of joint mobility
Induces repeated stretching of contracted, shortened soft tissues

4. Tissue repair
Enhances microcirculation and protein synthesis to heal wounds
Restores integrity of connective and dermal tissues

5. Acute and chronic edema
Accelerates absorption rate
Affects blood vessel permeability
Increases mobility of proteins, blood cells and lymphatic flow

6. Peripheral blood flow
Induces arterial, venous and lymphatic flow

7. Iontophoresis
Delivery of pharmacological agents

8. Urine and fecal incontinence
Affects pelvic floor musculature to reduce pelvic pain and strengthen musculature
Treatment may lead to complete continence

Electrotherapy is used for relaxation of muscle spasms, prevention and retardation of disuse atrophy, increase of local blood circulation, muscle rehabilitation and re-education electrical muscle stimulation, maintaining and increasing range of motion, management of chronic and intractable pain, post-traumatic acute pain, post surgical acute pain, immediate post-surgical stimulation of muscles to prevent venous thrombosis, wound healing and drug delivery.[citation needed]

Some of the treatment effectiveness mechanisms are little understood, with effectiveness and best practices for their use still anecdotal.

Electrotherapy devices have been studied in the treatment of chronic wounds and pressure ulcers. A 1999 meta-analysis of published trials found some evidence that electrotherapy could speed the healing of such wounds, though it was unclear which devices were most effective and which types of wounds were most likely to benefit.[8] However, a more detailed review by the Cochrane Library found no evidence that electromagnetic therapy, a subset of electrotherapy, was effective in healing pressure ulcers[13] or venous stasis ulcers.[14]

See also[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Electrotherapy.
Electrical brain stimulation
Electrical muscle stimulation
Electroanalgesia
Electrotherapy (cosmetic)
Galvanic bath
Neuromuscular diagnostics
Deep brain stimulation
Transcranial magnetic stimulation
Rebox electrotherapy
Cranial electrotherapy stimulation
Electroconvulsive therapy

References[edit]

1.Jump up ^ Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, "The IEEE standard dictionary of electrical and electronics terms". 6th ed. New York, N.Y., Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, c1997. IEEE Std 100-1996. ISBN 1-55937-833-6 [ed. Standards Coordinating Committee 10, Terms and Definitions; Jane Radatz, (chair)]
2.Jump up ^ Mollon B, da Silva V, Busse JW, Einhorn TA, Bhandari M (November 2008). "Electrical stimulation for long-bone fracture-healing: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials". J Bone Joint Surg Am 90 (11): 2322–30. doi:10.2106/JBJS.H.00111. PMID 18978400.
3.Jump up ^ Licht, Sidney Herman., "History of Electrotherapy", in Therapeutic Electricity and Ultraviolet Radiation, 2nd ed., ed. Sidney Licht, New Haven: E. Licht, 1967, Pp. 1-70.
4.Jump up ^ Licht, "History of Electrotherapy"
5.Jump up ^ Humphrey, C.E.; Seal, E.H. (1959). "Biophysical approach toward tumor regression in mice". Science 130: 388–390. doi:10.1126/science.130.3372.388.
6.Jump up ^ David, S.L; Absolom, D.R.; Smith, C.R.; Gams, J.; Herbert, M.A. (1985). "Effect of low level direct current on in vivo tumor growth in hamsters". Cancer Research 45: 5625–5631.
7.Jump up ^ Kulsh, J. (1997). "Targeting a key enzyme in cell growth: a novel therapy for cancer". Medical Hypotheses 49: 297–300. doi:10.1016/s0306-9877(97)90193-6.
8.^ Jump up to: a b Gardner SE, Frantz RA, Schmidt FL (1999). "Effect of electrical stimulation on chronic wound healing: a meta-analysis". Wound Repair Regen 7 (6): 495–503. doi:10.1046/j.1524-475X.1999.00495.x. PMID 10633009.
9.Jump up ^ Bouter LM (March 2000). "[Insufficient scientific evidence for efficacy of widely used electrotherapy, laser therapy, and ultrasound treatment in physiotherapy]". Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd (in Dutch; Flemish) 144 (11): 502–5. PMID 10735134.
10.Jump up ^ Nicolakis P, Kollmitzer J, Crevenna R, Bittner C, Erdogmus CB, Nicolakis J (Aug 2002). Wiener klinische Wochenschrift 114 (15–16): 21–22. PMID 12602111.
11.Jump up ^ Robinson AJ, Snyder-Mackler, L. Clinical electrophysiology: electrotherapy and electrophysiologic testing 3rd ed. Baltimore: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 2008;151-196, 198-237, 239-274
12.Jump up ^ Alon G et al. Electrotherapeutic Terminology in Physical Therapy; Section on Clinical Electrophysiology. Alexandria, VA: American Physical Therapy Association, 2005
13.Jump up ^ Aziz Z, Flemming K (2012). "Electromagnetic therapy for treating pressure ulcers". Cochrane Database Syst Rev (12): CD002930. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD002930.pub5. PMID 23235593.
14.Jump up ^ Aziz Z, Cullum N, Flemming K (2013). "Electromagnetic therapy for treating venous leg ulcers". Cochrane Database Syst Rev (2): CD002933. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD002933.pub5. PMID 23450536

Terry Wahls speaks about synergetic effects of Neuro Muscular Electric Stimulation NMES and antioxidant diet.
NMES is apparently also successfully used in case of Rheuma Arthritis which disease is very similar to MS.
Although the underlying mechanisms are perhaps not fully understood, positive effects are associated with electric (nerve/muscle) stimulation.

Besides an aggressive diet on antioxidant I will start with NMES and sought the advice of physiotherapist who has experience with the therapy
Here in Belgium, COMPEX is often used including by top sporters to train their muscles. http://www.compex.info/en_UK/Electrostimulation.html http://www.compex.info/en_UK/Products-146525.html
Terry Wahls used the EMPI 300PV but I can not get that here.

Inversion, eversion, dorsiflection, and plantarflexion are all terms
that desribe what you can do with your feet if all is well. I have
foot drop, and have trouble with dorsiflection, Dorsiflexion and
plantarflexion refers to extension or flexion of the foot at the ankle.
Dorsiflexion is the movement where the toes are brought closer to the
shin. Simply, I can't lift my toes up.

I have worn various brands of devices (Bioness is one example) which
apply an electrical signal to the nerves controlling the foot. They
make the toes invert and evert. That moves the toes to one side or the
other.

I have trouble with all of these movements (in, out, up, down).

The electrical stimulator provided me with a treat. It moved my toes
for the first time in about 8 years.

If you evert the foot with the stimulator, it moves the toes out and
away from the center of your body. This helps you walk if it is timed
(with a footswitch or accelerometer) so that your nerve fires at the
right time in your gait, to get the toes out of the way when you are
putting your foot forward.

The reason eversion is used, and not dorsiflection (toes up), as it was
explained to me, is that the nerve controlling eversion is closer to
the surface and can be easily fired through the skin. The nerve in
question is fired by electrodes just below the knee on the outside
calf.

The problem with dorsiflection, I have been told, is that the nerve
which controls it is deep below your calf muscle on the inside, and is
not close enough to the skin. It may be that the electrodes would have
to be implanted under the muscle. Or it may be that to generate the
larger signal would require more power than the single double-A
battery provides.

So I have a new orthotic on order, which is spring-loaded at the heel,
and moves the toes upward when you release the springs and lift your
foot.



My brother was playing tennis and detatched his Achilles tendon. He
had to have an operation to re-attach it, and spent some time in a
cast. His muscles weakened, so a physiotherapist used an electrical
stimulator to strengthen them. He told me, the stimulator could
dorsiflect his foot. Maybe the AC wall-socket provides enough power
for the deep calf nerves.

I would be willing to carry around a bigger battery if that is what is
needed to dorsiflect my foot. I would also be willing to undergo
whatever operation is needed to implant the electrodes.

I really want to walk again.

I also have trouble lifing up my leg at the thigh. There is also a
device, which I also can't afford, which is supposed to help fire that
muscle.

I also understand there are ways you can use your smart-phone's
accelerometer to reduce your dizziness and help with your
proprioception. I would like to try those apps as well. I
think with some retraining, some of the symptoms of MS can be
defeated...

I also use electro-stimulation to help with my foot circulation by
firing the muscles in my foot.