Chiropractic History Assignment Current trends and the history of TENS I n the May edition of CHA, we gave you a quick sketch of the history of electricity, its effect on popular culture and its impact on the philosophies of thinkers like Bergson, Mesmer and D.D. Palmer. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein tale and D.D. Palmer’s theoretical framework for modern chiropractic shared common roots with the belief in electricity as a primal source of animation and regeneration. TheMcIntosh No. 2 Polysine Generator was one practicalmani- festation of this fascination with the seemingly boundless potential of electricity in a landscape populated with often fanciful claims to health improvement. The challenge for us became to divine what the polysine’s makers intended the machine to do, whether it had any real thera- peutic effect and if there are any modern analogies. THE NO. 2 POLYSINE GENERATOR REVISITED Dr. Rick Ruegg is the associate dean of Clinical Education at CMCC and our resident modalities expert. I put those questions to him. Dr. Ruegg says: “If asked to label this interesting device in modern terms, I’d likely describe it as one of the original ‘mult-stim devices.’ Today, multi-stim devices typically provide programs for interfer- ential current (IFC) therapy, bi-polar (pulsed or pre-modulated), Russian (muscle) stimulation, bi-phasic and micro-current. This particular device appears to provide two of these functions. Both channels can develop alternating current (AC) and are able to generate a sinusoidal wave form which is the basis for all IFC units. With one channel “fi xed” and the other “variable,” the interference between the two channels would produce a therapeutic frequency within the tissues – a principle which is still used today in modern IFC devices. The channels are also capable of creating direct current (DC) which can be applied directly to the tissues in a low volt or bi-phasic fashion. The patient’s experience would include a gentle buzzing sensa- tion (high frequency stimulation), a sharp, prickling sensation (low frequency stimulation) or muscle twitching/contraction. While early therapeutic devices were attributed with a variety of effects – from pain relief or anti-infl ammatory effects to preventing hair loss – current research provides support for temporary pain relief and muscle rehabilitation only.” Steve Zoltai is the collections de- velopment librarian and archivist for CMCC and was previously the Assistant Executive Director of the Health Sciences Information Con- sortium of Toronto. He has worked for several public and private libraries and with the University of Toronto Archives. Steve comes by his interest in things historical honestly – he worked as a fi eld archeologist for the Province of Manitoba. He can be contacted at [email protected]. PAIN RELIEF, 46 CE Electricity has been used in medicine since Roman times. In 46 CE, the physician and phar- macologist Scribonius Largus noted the pain-relieving properties of the discharge of the electric torpedo ray and recommended it for the treatment of headache and gout (1): “Headache even if it is chronic and unbearable is taken away and remedied forever by a live black torpedo placed on the spot which is in pain, until the pain ceases. As soon as the numb- ness has been felt the remedy should be removed lest the ability to feel be taken from the part. (2)” An early form of electroanalgesia, this therapy is still in use 2,000 years later with a small Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulator (TENS) pulse generator replacing the ray. TENS AND THE GATE CONTROL THEORY OF PAIN Dr. Calin Lucaciu in our anatomy department sees the parallel. “Although the fi rst modern, wearable TENS was patented in 1974, the basic components are similar to our polysine generator even though our instrument was manufactured sometime early in the 20th century,” says Dr. Lucaciu. “This suggests that chiropractors even in those days possessed a surprisingly high level of clinical understanding in the fi eld of applied neuro- physiology.” He goes on to explain the theoretical rationale for the use of TENS: “proprioception and general sensations are transmitted to the spinal cord via highly myelinated nerve fi bres while nerve impulses related to pain sensation are transmitted via low myelinated fi bres. The highly myelinated fi bres will stimulate interneurons that suppress the projection of the low myelinated fi bres onto tract cells in the cerebral cortex. Consequently the “pain gate” is closed and no pain 20 • CANADIAN CHIROPRACTOR | JUNE 2008 Continued on Page 28 www.canadianchiropractor.ca Steve Zoltai feature
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