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Study of pulse magnetotherapy effects on brain

electrical activity
CONFERENCE PAPER OCTOBER 2012
DOI: 10.1109/ICEPE.2012.6463856

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Valeriu David

Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iasi

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2012 International Conference and Exposition on Electrical and Power Engineering (EPE 2012), 25-27 October, Iasi, Romania

Study of Pulse Magnetotherapy

M
Effectts on Brain
E
Electrical
Activity
Mariana Ciorap, Doru Andrioi, Valeeriu David

Raduu Ciorap

Faculty of Electrical Engineerinng

Gheorghe Asachi Technical Universsity of Iasi
Iasi, Romania
mariana.ciorap@gmail.com

Faculty of Mediical Bioengineering

University of Medicine andd Pharmacy Grigore T. PopaI
Iai
Iasi, Romania
R

AbstractIn this paper we study the influencee of magnetic field,

used for basic physiotherapy procedures, on
o brain electrical
activity by analyzing the EEG signal. Th
he recordings are
performed in three conditions (before, during
d
and after
magnetotherapy) from electrodes placed in the scalp in the
occipital region. For magnetotherapy procedurre was used typical
equipment with cylindrical coil of 60 cm diaameter. We record
EEG from 13 healthy volunteers for 3 types of
o sinusoidal pulses.
The frequency analysis was performed for all
a recorded signals
and was evaluating the power spectral densiity (PSD) for delta
(0.5 to 4 Hz) and alpha (8 to 13 Hz) waves.
Keywords- EEG, brain activity, magnetic fieeld, Power Spectrum
Density

I.

INTRODUCTION

Magnetotherapy is one of the bassic physiotherapy

procedures and most commonly used since time immemorial.
If at the beginning the therapy was based on
o application of a
static magnetic field provided from a permaanent magnet, now
are very popular another two methods. One
O
is based on
alternating magnetic field of a frequency of 50 Hz usually
derived from sinusoidal mains voltage. The second
s
method use
pulse magnetic field characterized by fast chhanges of field and
the intensity. The application requires particular
p
caution
because humans have no specific receptors foor a magnetic field
and does not perceive it directly.
Several studies have been made, in the past few decades,
regarding the effects of extremely low frequency (ELF)
electromagnetic field both in continuous annd/or pulsed form,
on human biological systems [14]. Thhe extremely low
frequency (ELF) refers to the range of elecctromagnetic field
frequencies less than 100 Hz [5] or, accordding other opinion
below 300 Hz [6]. Cvetkovic et al. [7] invesstigated if the EEG
activity could be altered when stimulated by ELF magnetic
field at the vertex head position. The results reveal
r
a difference
between recordings made in presence of EL
LF magnetic field
stimulation and recordings without stimulatioon, found in Alpha
EEG band [7]. Baldi et al. [8] study on the innfluence of pulsed
electromagnetic field exposure on heartt rate variability
revealed a variation in all cases. Sastre et al.
a [9] analyze the
influence of earth magnetic field on EEG siggnal. Marino et al.
[10] use the FFT and power spectrum analysiis to test the theory

978-1-4673-1172-4/12/$31.00 2012 IEEE

that transduction of low leevel electromagnetic fields is

mediated like other stimuli. The
T study reveals that the posttransduction brain electrical activity
a
in human subjects was
similar in cases of electromagnetic fields and light stimuli.
Ciorap et al. [11] study thhe VEP and EEG in some
electromagnetic environments and reveals some influences of
environmental electromagnetic fields.
The aim of this study is to observe the brain electrical
activity during pulse magnetottherapy taking into account that
this procedure is frequently used
u
for a lot of diseases. We
analyzed the EEG signals recoorded in frequency domain and
calculate the power spectral deensity (PSD). We evaluated the
power for delta (0.5 to 4 Hz) and alpha (8 to 13 Hz) waves
before, during and after magnettotherapy for all recordings.
II.

MATERIA
AL AND METHODS

The EEG signals were recorded using Data Acquisition

device BIOPAC Inc., which coonsisted of MP150 system with
EEG100 Electroencephalogram
m amplifier. The electrodes were
placed on the scalp in the occiipital region (O1-Cz and O2-Cz
leads) as shown in figure 1.

Figure 1. EEG electrode placement and position of the subject during of

recoording

All signals were recorded for

f 240 seconds. First 60 second
was recorded without magneticc field, the next 120 seconds of

668

recording was made in the presence of magnnetic field and the

last 60 seconds after the magnetic field expossure.
In study were involved 13 subjects (9 feemale and 4 male)
with age between 22 and 40 years. Magnetootherapy procedure
was performed using BTL-4000 equipmeent. For selected
procedure it was used only the cylindrical cooil with a diameter
of 60 cm placed in lumbar region. The designn of this applicator
was adapted for creating a linear magneticc field as large as
possible part of the applicator. For each suubject we use two
kind of pulse magnetic field using sinusoidall pulses. The shape
of these pulses is showed in figure 2.

Figure 3. EEG Spectrogram

m for O1-Cz leads for 240 sec

Figure 2. The shape of sinusoidal puulses

All records, for each subject, were made inn consecutive days
and the parameters of pulses are given in tablle 1.
TABLE I.

PARAMETERS O SINUSOID
DAL PULSES

t1
[ms]

t2
[ms]

T
[ms]

First
Freq.
[Hz]

B
[mT]

10

10

20

50 HZ

Figure 4. PSD for O1-Cz

O
leads for 240 sec
TYPE 1

III.
TYPE 2

12

83.3 HZ

TYPE 3

12

183

195

5.12 HZ

Before starting the experiment we recoord EEG for 240

seconds from a healthy subject without ussing any hardware
filters with aim to estimate the noise in the innvestigating room.
In figure 3 and figure 4 are showed the speectrogram and the
PSD calculated in MATLAB for one EEG chhannel.

RESULTS

The EEG recorded from

m O1-Cz and O2-Cz leads is
presented in following figures. In figure 5 is showed a sample
of the EEG signal recorded for
fo 240 seconds, without filters,
using type 1 of pulses for maagnetotherapy. Because the line
frequency noise is very high and
a for type 1 of stimulus this
noise is increase was mandatorry to use a noch filter for 50 Hz.
We use a combined IIR (Infiinite Impulse Response) digital
filter and the result for EEG signals showed in figure 5 are
presented in figure 6.

We observed that the noise in the invesstigation room had

important components on 50 Hz and 100 Hz. Also the DC
component had an important value. We observed also a noise
at 106 Hz. Because the main EEG rhythms have the spectrum
from 0.1 to 30 Hz, the room noise is easy to eliminate.
e
For the experiment we set the frequenncy band of EEG
amplifier between 0 to 100 Hz. The EEG recoorded signals were
first processed using high pass filter (0.1 Hzz) for rejecting the
DC component and after that using notch filteer for 50 Hz. After
that the signals were analyzed for calculate FF
FT and PSD.

Figure 5. EEG for O1-Cz and O2-Cz leads forType 1 (without filters)

669

Figure 6. EEG for O1-Cz and O2-Cz leads forType 1 (with 50 Hz filters)

After the denoising the signals we perform a EEG

frequency analysis using band pass filter for delta (0.5-4 Hz),
theta (4-8 Hz), alpha (8-13 Hz) and beta (13-30 Hz) rhythms. A
sample of this results are showed in figure 7.

Figure 10. FFT for O1-Cz leads after magnetotherapy with type 1 pulses

We also calculate for all recordings the PSD in three

situations: before, during and after magnetotherapy. A sample
of the results during magnetotherapy with type 1 pulses is
showed in figure 11.

Figure 11. PSD for O1-Cz leads during magnetotherapy with type 1 pulses
Figure 7. Sample of EEG rhythms for O1-Cz leads forType 1

In figure 8, figure 9 and figure 10 is showed the FFT for

EEG recorded on O1-Cz before, during and after
magnetotherapy. The frequency interval on graphics is 0 16
Hz.

In figures 12 and 13 are showed a comparison PSD in three

situations: before, during and after magnetotherapy for type 1
and type 2 pulses.
We dont made the analysis for type 3 of stimulus because
during magnetotherapy the noise introduced by coil is very big
and have the frequency spectrum with important values at 5.12
Hz, 10.24 Hz, 15.36 Hz and so on until 46.08 Hz.

Figure 8. FFT for O1-Cz leads before magnetotherapy with type 1 pulses
Figure 12. Sample of PSD for O1-Cz with type 1 pulses

Figure 9. FFT for O1-Cz leads during magnetotherapy with type 1 pulses
Figure 13. Sample of PSD for O1-Cz with type 2 pulses

670

We estimated the total power for each EEG wave

calculating the area of PSD waveform in establishes frequency
domains (delta 0.5-4 Hz, theta 4-8 Hz, alpha 8-13 Hz and beta
13-30 Hz). The results for delta and alpha wave are presented
in table II and IV. The statistical analyses for these data are
synthetized in table III and V.
TABLE II.
Record
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

TOTAL POWER OF DELTA WAVE

A
before
magnetotherapy
1.76E-08
2.78E-08
1.30E-08
1.31E-08
1.27E-08
1.28E-08
7.19E-10
1.75E-10
1.61E-10
4.48E-10
1.33E-09
6.64E-09
1.30E-08

TABLE III.

before
magnetotherapy
Minimum
1.61E-10
Maximum
2.78E-08
Range
2.76E-08
Mean
9.19E-09
Median
1.27E-08
Variance (2)
7.21E-17
Standard
8.49E-09
Deviation ()
TABLE IV.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

Indic
Minimum
Maximum
Range
Mean

with
magnetotherapy
1.18E-10
4.37E-08
4.35E-08
1.33E-08
9.46E-09
2.26E-16

after
magnetotherapy
1.39E-10
3.18E-08
3.16E-08
1.17E-08
1.22E-08
1.11E-16

1.50E-08

1.05E-08

TOTAL POWER OF ALPHA WAVE

A
before
magnetotherapy
1.45E-07
1.46E-07
6.12E-08
5.69E-08
6.11E-08
5.96E-08
9.08E-09
1.94E-09
2.77E-09
5.83E-09
9.64E-09
9.38E-09
1.28E-08

TABLE V.

A
after
magnetotherapy
3.18E-08
1.97E-08
1.88E-08
1.89E-08
2.14E-08
1.93E-08
6.51E-10
6.76E-10
1.39E-10
7.81E-10
1.42E-09
7.39E-09
1.22E-08

A
with
magnetotherapy
1.16E-07
1.12E-07
6.34E-08
6.41E-08
6.34E-08
6.37E-08
7.74E-10
1.76E-09
2.84E-09
4.95E-09
7.42E-09
1.50E-08
1.77E-08

A
after
magnetotherapy
1.02E-07
9.51E-08
8.31E-08
8.50E-08
7.61E-08
6.81E-08
5.46E-10
1.54E-09
1.94E-09
3.07E-09
4.34E-09
1.44E-08
1.49E-08

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF ALPHA WAVE RESULS

before
magnetotherapy
1.94E-09
1.46E-07
1.44E-07
4.47E-08

with
magnetotherapy
7.74E-10
1.16E-07
1.15E-07
4.10E-08

after
magnetotherapy
5.46E-10
1.02E-07
1.01E-07
4.23E-08

1.28E-08
2.59E-15

1.77E-08
1.74E-15

1.49E-08
1.76E-15

5.09E-08

4.18E-08

4.20E-08

IV.

CONCLUSION

In this study was recorded and analyzed EEG signals for 12

subjects before, during amd after a session of magnetotherapy.
EEG signals was decomposed in four rhythms that cover 0 to
30 Hz domain. It was analyzed the total power of delta and
alpha waves for each recording.
It was found that the mean of delta power values was
increased with 28,2% after magnetotherapy compared to its
value before magnetotherapy.
For alpha waves has been observed that the mean of alpha
power during magnetotherapy is lower that before and after.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This paper was realized with the support of EURODOC
Doctoral Scholarship for research performance at European
level project, financed by the European Social Found and
Romanian Government.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF DELTA WAVE RESULS

Indic

Record

A
with
magnetotherapy
1.47E-08
1.74E-08
1.68E-08
4.35E-08
1.70E-08
4.37E-08
6.04E-10
2.33E-09
1.18E-10
5.02E-10
6.56E-10
6.67E-09
9.46E-09

Median
Variance (2)
Standard
Deviation ()

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