More than 100 years ago scientist and engineer Nikolai Tesla postulated the healing effects of electricity and electromagnetism. Initially scoffed at by the medical community, electricity today plays a key role in both diagnostics and the treatment of disease.

Understanding the therapeutic effects of electro-physics has evolved into a new medical discipline known as “energy medicine.” “Electricity is a very therapeutic and useful tool in treating patients. Whether that’s micro-current or different types of electrical stimulation, they all have an amazing role to play in healing aspects as well as the functional aspects of the body,” says Rehabilitation Specialist Dr. John Mitzock.

Understanding that almost every process within the body from digestion to muscular movement has an electrical component, medical engineers are developing devices with broad applications using the concept of targeted micro-electrical stimulation. Popular for many years in other countries such as Germany, this therapy that allows you to control current selectively, provides micro-electrical stimulation directly to tissues. It is known as electro-myopulse therapy, and it is being used to treat everything from arthritis and joint pain to erectile dysfunction.

Research into the Effectiveness of Mild Electro-pulse Therapy

A recent study published by researchers with The Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory indicates the benefits of micro-current therapy in treating some of the side effects associated with radiation oncology. Dr. Lennard with Fermi Labs explains: “One form of a particularly unpleasant side effect is what we call fibrosis. Fibrosis is a special form of scar tissue that forms on the patient’s skin in the area where the radiation first entered. As a physicist, I was just really fascinated with the idea of using electricity to treat a physical problem. We developed a range of motion measuring system that could measure the limitations the patients were experiencing as a result of the radiation. We treated them twice a day for a week with an electric myopulse protocol. At the end of the week, every single patient had a positive result everyone had some gains in range of motion.”

This kind of mild electro-pulse therapy is proving effective in the treatment of other conditions as well. Arlene French is among a growing group of others who have also been receiving energy therapy for the treatment of a neuro-muscular disorder known as Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy. “I couldn’t pick up a pencil, I couldn’t write, and I’m right handed so I see notes from way back when, you know, I had this huge hand, I was just unable to use it for anything, I couldn’t pick up anything.

My doctor suggested this therapy, I had three treatments a day and by the Friday of that first week of treatment, I could move my fingers just a tiny bit. I’ve still got some disfiguration from the swelling period, you can see that it’s disfigured, but it’s useable, I can write I can use it,” explained French. As public demand increases for non-traditional approaches to medicine, alternative practices like electro-therapy continue to generate a buzz within the healthcare community.