Janusz Orzech

Janusz Orzech – 150 years of electrostimulation. The development of electrostimulation methods between years 1855 and 2005. Fizjoterapia Polska 2006; 6(3); 185-191

Abstract
The ongoing expansion of electrotherapy methods has led to the conspicuous growth of terminological turmoil in the Polish and international literature. The information provided on the subject of electrostimulation is often incomplete and even incorrect, making it harder to come up with a systematic approach of interventions, especially from a scientific and didactic point of view. In order to establish the unified definition and systematics of electrostimulation, a review of available and mainly source literature has been conducted, concerning the history of invention and development of different electrotherapy methods from the very early therapeutic application of electricity in 1855 by Duchenne till the year 2005. The analysis of scientific publications proves that, from the physiotherapeutic point of view, the history of electrical stimulation of human tissues is vast and concerns 150 years of research and experiments on bringing new different techniques to life. We observe the ongoing improvement and extension of applied methods whilst only one of them — the Franklinization method — has been discontinued from the physical therapy practice in most of the countries worldwide. Concerning the substantial variability of present methods, the author suggests a following definition of electrostimulation: „The electrostimulation is an electro-the-rapeutic intervention leading to the striated or smooth muscle contraction of the normal and paralyzed tissues with additional positive effects on blood and lymphatic circulation along with the analgesic action”. The author also suggests retaining English terms and abbreviations for the electrostimulation interventions, i. e. NMES, ESDM, FES, TENS, ATES, and propo-ses incorporation of the unified systematics of electrostimulation methods.

Key words:
electrostimulation, history of electrostimulation, methods of electrostimulation, systematic review