Shortwave Therapy

Abramson DI, Harris AJ, Beaconsfield P. Changes in peripheral blood flow produced by short-wave diathermy. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 1957;38(6):369-76. Adair ER, Black DR. Thermoregulatory responses to RF energy absorption. Bioelectromagnetics. 2003;Suppl 6:S17-38. Adey WR. Biological effects of electromagnetic fields. J Cell Biochem. 1993 Apr;51(4):410-6. doi: 10.1002/jcb.2400510405. PMID: 8388394. Alcidi L, Beneforti E, Maresca M,…

How does shortwave work using thermal effects? It heats the tissues producing: Theory: In the past to get thermal effects from shortwave it was generally understood you needed to use continuous short-wave (often referred to as diathermy for heat) Pulsed short-wave (PSW) was generally used for it’s for athermal effects. Recent studies have demonstrated that…

How does shortwave work non thermal (non-thermal or athermal) in short: It affects Cells How to get non thermal effects: Theory: Non thermal effects happen at the cellular level, influencing the function of cell membranes and organelles (Foster 2000, Foster & Galser 2007, Rao 2008, Al-Mandeel & Watson 2008). This can have a direct effect…

In this style of treatment the positive and negative sides of the electrode are connected by a constant wire. It is easiest thought of as a coil. But is most commonly applied through a single electrode (see further down this page) As a coil it is wound around the limb with positive at one end…

Most modern shortwave machines use an oscillating magnetic field to create currents in the tissues (often referred to as inductothermy). The current from the machine is generally passed through insulators (pads, tubes, treatment heads etc.) as a displacement current. What this means is they can be used with an air gap between the machine and…

At the highest level Foster (2000) said radio frequencies interacted with the body in several main ways:  1. EMF enters the body (the field primarily flows through intra as well as extracellular spaces coupling with the body). 2. Absorbed by the target tissue. (The amount of effect is determined by the level of absorption of the EM energy…

Around 1880 a French physician and biophysicist Jacques Arsene d’Arsonval had been studying medical applications for electricity. He performed the first systematic studies in 1890 of the effect of alternating current on the body. During these studies he discovered that frequencies above 10 kHz did not cause the physiological reaction of electric shock, but warming (Kovács 1945, Ho et…

Shortwave therapies (SWT) use electromagnetic fields (EMF) within the radio frequency (RF) range. Alos known as pulsed electromagnetic energy (PEME), pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF), pulsed high frequency electromagnetic energy (PHFE) or pulsed radiofrequency energy (PRFE). All radio frequencies in the 10 -100 mhz range are called shortwave. Hence therapies using these frequencies are called shortwave treatments.…