The Effect Of Electrical Currents On Physical Therapy

* Electromyogram- Measures electrical activity of muscles at rest and during contraction. These studies measure how well and fast the nerves can send electrical signals.

Encyclopedia of Nursing & Allied Health. Bioelectricity: Transmission of nerve impulses to muscle. Retrieved on 26 June 2011 from http://www.enotes.com/nursing-encyclopedia/bioelectricity

Electronic Muscle stimulation( EMS) was developed for medical use. A common application of EMS is the rehabilitation of muscle after accident or stroke. The effect of EMS is similar to regular exercise of muscles. Slendertone was developed to enable healthy users to “exercise” muscles without having to do any exercise. By remaining seated, lying down or even minor cores, users could get a benefit of a rigorous workout.

The results in Figure 2. show that increasing the stimulus strength (V) from 0 to o.40V will result in an increase of Active Muscle force generated by the gastrocnemius muscle in the Buffo Marinus, confirming the hypothesis. The force generated plateaus when the stimulus is beyond o.40V.

Next with a stimulation duration of 50us, the stimulus amplitude should be set to the maximal tolerable stimulus intensity. With stimulus frequency of 2Hz, observe and record the leg movement, increase it by 5Hz but should not exceed 50Hz. With the electrodes connected to the analogy output channel and ground of the DAQ board. With the corresponding LabVIEW program, the frequency and amplitude (voltage) of the stimulation supplied to the leg can be controlled. With this the “sweet spot” of the lowest amplitude and best frequency to cause evoked movement can be found and recorded. Now the stimulation frequency should be set to 10Hz and the duration of stimulation pulse to 5ms or less. The range if leg movement changes can be observed as amplitude changes. Electrical stimulation in increments of 0.01V should be delivered and the minimal voltage required to generate muscle twitch should be recorded. The pulse duration should then be increased by durations of 10ms and the minimum voltage should be recorded this should be repeated for a variety of pulse

Within the past few years, however, scientists have made many new advancements. The United States Food and Drug Administration has approved 2 electronic systems that regulate muscles by sending electrical signals through implanted wires, called functional electrical stimulation (FES). Some proteins have been found to promote nerve growth and restore limb function and sensation when administered directly

I f you are looking to start training for 20 min with EMS stimulation, this is your place. Electrical stimulation acts on the muscle provoking muscle to work, and the muscle progress is nothing but the result of that work. Having the electro stimulation meanwhile you training, give the order to the muscle to make the maximum number of muscle fiber to work, therefore the amount of time you require to train is relatively short as a normal training.

The above mentioned procedures are known as brain stimulation therapy where electrical and magnetic impulses are administered to the patient. Moreover, the procedures are completely painless and last only a few minutes. The treatments are once a week, usually lasting six to eight weeks. Nowadays, with the advancements in medical and psychological treatment, a combination of both prescription medicine and psychological help, has shown the greatest

• Nerve conduction studies. These record muscle activity and check how well your muscle nerves send signals.

Most of stroke patients suffer from dysfunction in some of the brain activities; one common dysfunction is arm or leg paresis. Therefore the long term goal is to use noninvasive electrical stimulation to improve the function for arm paresis stroke and TBI patients. The targeted population is individuals that have post stroke/TBI dysfunction. Previous studies showed that the stimulation of the motor cortex (M1) region using direct electrical stimulation increases brain activity and help improves brain function. However Direct current stimulation has several limitations, for instance the polarity of the electrodes effects the measurement, since the brain region that attached to the anode will be excited and the region that is attached to the cathode will be inhibited. Therefore we are introducing a new novel method

As the voltage was increased from threshold to maximum voltage, there was a greater force in the muscle contraction. Once the maximum voltage (2500 mv) was reached, even if there was an increase in voltage, the force of the muscle contraction remained the same.

Gwen and Tom sailed back up the Hudson River. They bought back as many medications as they could. For the first time in forever, Gwen finally felt like she had someone in this ghost town that somewhat cared for her. They sailed back into town and gave everybody who needed prescription drugs their medicine. They went back into the forest, with heavy sacks of food and water on their backs. They climbed up the hill, and opened the sliding door into the Whippersnapper. Into the warm, cozy home, away from all the chaos in the world. Gwen paused for a moment. She thought about everything in the world. She thought about all the pain, misery, joy and happiness. She realized. Is this really the end of the world? Supermarkets are EMPTY. Towns are EMPTY.

The current tracing does not dip as much but gradually decreases as the muscle fatigues.

They work on the same principle but instead of medication it produces electric impulses to decrease pain at the surface of spinal cord. The patient can control the input of electric impulse using a magnetic pulsing

Physical therapy has grown increasing more useful as the years’ progress and more is learned about the human body and its movements, interactions, and mechanisms. Someone may go to physical therapy for injury, recovery, in order to maintain function, or even due to a stroke and is trying to work on walking again. Patients of a physical therapist can include, but is not limited to, elderly, children, accident victims, athletes, those with conditions such as arthritis or fractures, etc. The possibilities are endless for potential physical therapy patients (Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences).