Electrodiagnostic, electrotherapeutic methods. Individual measuring of the ECG. Electrical excitability.

Electrodiagnosis involves recording the electrical activity and responses of body parts to an electrical
stimulus. This is commonly used to find the reason for back pains and numbness such as pinched
nerves. Nerve Conduction Studies consists of placing sensors on the body, with these sensors
producing a small electrical impulse. Physicians can then interpret the body’s responses to determine
the functionality of the patient’s nerves by how quickly they respond. There are two forms of
stimulation used: faradic current, with frequencies of 1 to 100 shocks per second - and direct current.
Electromyography (EMG) is another method which uses small needles inserted into the upper/lower
limb muscles to observe electrical activity through contractions. This can show whether the muscles
are receiving the correct signals from surrounding nerves. The signals are delivered to electrodes which
displays the result on an oscilloscope. The received action potential created by the contraction allows
us to visualise of the effectiveness of the nerve to muscle connection. Electrocardiograms measure
how the electrical activity of the heart changes over time with the passing of action potentials through it
during the cardiac cycle. In particular, the electrical differences across the heart are shown when
depolarisation and repolarisation of the atrial-ventricular cells occur. Pads containing electrodes are
placed below the right collarbone and laterally to the left side of the torso below the armpit. One
section of the heart will be contracted whilst the others will not. This causes a dipole, which leads to a
current to flow in the conductive medium in which the heart is suspended. This creates an electric field
which can be detected by electrodes which are attached to the skin. The amplitude of the signal
depends on the mass of tissue (cardiac heart muscle) which created the dipole.

Effect of the direct and alternating currents.

Direct currents, electrical currents which only flow in one direction such as in a battery, along with
Alternating currents, which periodically reverses in direction such as from the mains supply, are both
important and used widely in medicine. AC is a time varying voltage source. High voltages can be
transmitted with less power losses than low voltages as used in DC, over long distances. Transformers
can then be used to decrease this voltage to 240V, which we use in our mains supply for household
devices. This is applied to the medical devices we use in the hospital for majority of equipment. A DC
current may be used in electrotherapy and electrodiagnosis.

Physics in physiotherapy (magnetic field, laser and others).

Thermal ultrasound uses sound waves to cause microscopic vibrations. This increases heat at the site,
increasing the metabolism at the level of the tissue cells. Mechanical ultrasounds use the pulsing of
sounds waves. These waves also create a heating effect which leads to contraction of gas bubbles in
the muscle. This results in less swelling and other symptoms due to inflammation. This involves the
theory of pulses, which relies on one signal to be sent, with the source programmed to only send the
next signal after the first one has been received. This can be calculated by v=fλ and speed = distance/
time. The reason for waiting for the previous signal to return by reflection to be received before sending
the next one is to prevent the waves overlapping to cause interference.

The human body naturally has magnetic and electric fields. Problems may occur due to these magnetic
fields from each cell being out of balance. Diseases in the osteoarticular system such as rheumatoid
arthritis can be treated using low frequency magnetic fields. Magnetotherapy using AC, sinusoids and
unipolar magnetic fields has shown to a have an effect on reducing pain in patients with arthritis and
fibromyalgia.
Laser therapy involves a high wavelength of visible light to penetrate skin by a few millimetres to reach
muscle tissue. This is used to reduce inflammation, stimulate tissue regeneration and increase blood
flow. Non-invasive low level light is used and this raises ATP production giving the muscle cells more
energy, raising endorphin and DNA prodcution as well as improving the immune response and collagen
promotion to prevent scarring. In both low level and high level laser therapy, the laser is formed from a
chamber with parallel mirrors within a single wavelength of light. Electrical energy from the mains
supply excites the atoms which are reflected by these mirrors. Electrons are excited to a higher energy
state, which is quickly deexcited to release a photon of light of a specific frequency, which is then
reflected by the mirrors to form the laser beam. The beam formed is monochromatic as a result so is all
one colour and frequency. The waves of the beam are coherent as they all have the same phase
difference and are all of the same frequency.