Evaluation of reproductive function of female rats exposed to radio frequency fields (27.12 MHz) near a shortwave diathermy device.

 

Brown-Woodman PD, Hadley JA, Richardson L, Bright D, Porter D.

 

Department of Biological Sciences, Cumberland College of Health Sciences, Lidcombe,

Australia.

 

In recent years, there has been increased concern regarding effects of operator exposure to the electromagnetic (EM) field associated with shortwave diathermy devices. The present study was designed to investigate the effects, on rats, of repeated exposure to such an EM field. Following repeated exposure for 5 wk, a reduction in fertility occurred as indicated by a reduced number of matings in exposed rats compared to sham-irradiated rats and a reduction in the number of rats that conceived after mating. The data suggest that female operators could experience reduced fertility, if they remained close to the console for prolonged periods. This has particular significant for the physiotherapy profession.

Get Document > SWD Indication Sheet - Decreased Joint Stiffness and Range of Motion

Increased joint stiff is often associated with decreased range of motion. Causes may include muscle contraction during acute phase injury and damage to surrounding soft tissue, articular cartilage, decreased synovial fluid and improper joint mechanics. Decreased range of motion is correlated with musculoskeletal disorders, for example low back pain and decreased physical activity including exercise and activities of daily living.

Get Document > SWD Indication Sheet - Increased Blood Flow and Chronic Inflammation

The body typically responds to therapeutic heat application through increased blood flow to an area. The benefits to increasing blood flow through heat application is to improve oxygenation to tissue, increase metabolic response, and removal of waste products (1) as well as extensibility in sort tissue that may allow for further treatment, which may be beneficial in treating the effects of scarring and fibrosis that occur as soon as seven days following an injury (2). However, during acute phase injury, increases in blood flow should be accomplished via non-thermal methods, as in the case with pulsed short wave diathermy.

Get Document > SWD Indication Sheet - Joint and Approximate Soft Tissues

Joint tissue include articular (synovial) cartilage and capsular. Osteoarthitis is a common disorder affecting weight bearing joints, such as the knees, and can be a debilitating disorder. Jan M et al (2006) investigated the influence of shortwave diathermy on synovitis of patients with chronic arthritis (1). Under ultrasonography, synovial thickness was determine to be decreased significantly over the control group. It was also noted that there was a significant decrease in pain among subjects treated with shortwave diathermy.

Get Document > SWD Indication Sheet - Muscle Spasm

 

Muscle spasms are characterized by involuntary contractions, often as a result of an injury response. It is likely that there is increased sensory afferent information causing muscle spindles to stimulate contraction and/or decreased inhibition by the golgi tendon organ.

 

Deep heating to a muscle tissue (1) results in decreased sensitivity to firing or muscle spindles (2). The addition of muscle stretching may further enhance the influence to muscle spindle inihibition (3).

Get Document > SWD Indication Sheet - Pain Relief

 

Pain is often classified by its temporal dimension, acute or chronic. Acute pain is a condition that is several days to weeks and chronic pain may have no ending time, but often differentiated by the lack of tissue disruption and/or chemical mediators of inflammation or subjectively lasts for durations of several months.

 

Acute pain is often associated with tissue disruption, chemical mediators of inflammation, mechanical pressure on free nerve endings, and oxygen deprived tissues. Muscle spasm is often the cause of mechanical pressure, stimulating nociceptors and ischemia, due to changes in blood flow dynamics to and from muscle tissue, i.e. decreasing oxygen flow. Therefore, acute pain should subside when the damaged tissue is repaired, inflammation and spasm are reduced, decreasing mechanical pressure, and proper blood flow and oxygenation have been restored. However, acute pain management is often necessary to keep the condition from becoming chronic pain through neurotrophic changes and therefore inflammatory mediators should not be the only indicator in the treatment of pain (1). Even when the subjective component of pain reporting is removed, it has been found that pain stimuli (nociception) continues to have neurological and physiological disruption (1).

Get Document > SWD Indication Sheet - Pelvic Inflammatory Disease

Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is characterized typically as an infection to the internal or external genitalia and other reproductive organs of females. Chlamydia and gonorrhea are the most common causes, however the condition can be the result of others as well as multiple infectious sources (1). Though typical treatments include antibiotic therapy, they can be unsuccessful and difficult to treat.

Though short-wave diathermy (SWD) is often thought of as a modality in the treatment of neuromusculoskeletal disorders, it has been found to increase tissue temperature to great depths below the skin surface (2) and therefore may offer opportunity to treat conditions that may benefit from increased tissue temperature.

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Bibliography

Get Document > SHORT WAVE DIATHERMY Research Summary

Aaron et al. (2004). Treatment of nonunions with electric and electromagnetic

fields. Clin Orthop, 419, 21-29.

 

Design: Literature review

 

Objectives: Review of pre-clinical and clinical studies on nonunion treatments using electric and electromagnetic fields

 

Subjects: Pre-clinical (in vitro and in vivo) and clinical trials with controls, randomized, on bone healing, osteogensis stimulation, cases studies, delayed non-union

 

Methods: Author review, no set criteria

 

Results: Preclinical studies have shown that electric and electromagnetic fields regulate proteoglycan (PG) and collagen synthesis in models of endochondral ossification, and increase bone formation in vivo and in vitro.Asubstantial number of clinical studies have been done that suggest acceleration of bone formation and healing, particularly osteotomies and spine fusions, by electric and electromagnetic fields. Many of these studies have used randomized, placebo controlled designs. In osteotomy trials, greater bone density, trabecular maturation, and radiographic healing were observed in actively treated, compared with placebo-treated patients. In spine fusions, average union rates of 80% to 90% were observed in actively treated patients across numerous studies compared with 65% to 75% in placebo-treated patients. Uncontrolled, longitudinal cohort studies of delayed and nonunions report mean union rates of approximately 75% to 85% in fractures previously refractory to healing. The few randomized controlled studies in delayed and nonunions suggest improved results with electric and electromagnetic fields compared with placebo treatment, and equivalent to bone grafts

Get Document > Shortwave Diathermy: Clinical Applications

Running Head: Shortwave Diathermy 3

 

Introduction

Short wave diathermy (SWD) is a form of deep heating produced by an electromagnetic field. In the past decades, it has been research for its benefits outside of the thermal realm as well as along the thermal continuum. Historical it was used in continuous application to obtain increases in tissue temperature, however increases in tissue temperature has also been accomplished but the more popular mode of treatment in pulsed application.1   Short wave diathermy is named because of its wavelength, most commonly produce at 27.12 MHz or 11 meters.2 The energy is a high frequency alternating current that can produce non-thermal and thermal effects similar to ultrasound and other therapeutic modalities, however the wave length duration is not long enough top depolarize muscle tissue as in electrotherapy.3 There are two common generators/applicators, capacitive and inductive.

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SWD100 E-Book

Get Document > Intelect SWD 100 - Diathermy
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