Annales de réadaptation et de médecine physique : revue scientifique de la Société française de rééducation fonctionnelle de réadaptation et de médecine physique
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Ann Readapt Med Phys · Jul 2008
Historical Article[The history of electrostimulation in rehabilitation medicine].
In antiquity, the electrical properties of torpedo fishes were used for therapeutic purposes (in headache and gout). In the 18th century, some practitioners used Leyde jars (Musschenbroek, 1746) and electrostatic devices to treat (notably) neuralgia, contractures and paralysis. L. ⋯ In the mid-19th century, Duchenne de Boulogne (1806-1875) improved electrotherapy procedures with volta and magnetofaradaic apparatuses. During the first half of the 20th century, research in electrophysiology (chronaxia and rheobasis) progressed in parallel with the work of electroradiologists such as A. d'Arsonval (1851-1940) and his high-frequency currents. From the 1960s onwards, the combination of progress in electronics with data processing and the miniaturization of medical devices opened up the way to today's electrostimulation techniques and their implementations in physical medicine and rehabilitation.
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In the context of chronic pain, the technics of neuromodulation have a significative place especially when they are neuropathic with a precise selection of the indications according to the neurophysiological, anatomical and clinical data. The choice is essentially based upon the severity and the site of pain. They are totally conservative, adaptable and reversible but it is necessary to organize a very rigorous clinical and technical follow-up according to a multidisciplinary approach.