Electro therapy method and apparatus

#This invention relates to an electro-therapy method and apparatus and more particularly to a method and apparatus for relieving pain arising from temporary or chronic conditions or during or after surgery.

#Nemec in U.S. Pat. No. 2,622,601 issued on Dec. 23, 1952 disclosed one of the earliest electro therapy apparatuses and method. The Nemec system disclosed an apparatus comprising at least two means for producing alternating currents of frequencies between 1000 and 10,000 cycles with each of means connected with a separate pair of electrodes. The difference frequency between the means was made less than 100 cycles. The electrodes were placed upon the patient such that the two currents would intersect at a proposed therapeutic site. The basic concept was that the higher frequencies would be transmitted, but the low frequency need for therapeutic action would occur only at the common transmission point.

#Nemec in U.S. Pat. No. 4,023,574 issued May 17, 1977 disclosed three separate pairs of electrodes are attached to a body part to be treated, spaced apart around said part of the body. A primary alternating electrical current having a primary frequency of between 100 Hz and 100,000 Hz is passed between one of the electrode pairs. A similar second alternating electrical current having a secondary frequency in the same range as the primary frequency but differing by between 50 Hz and 100 Hz from the primary frequency is passed between another of the pairs of electrodes. A tertiary alternating current is passed between the third pair of electrodes and has a tertiary frequency differing by at most 1 Hz from the frequency of either the primary current, the secondary current, or the arithmetic means of the frequency of these two currents.

#FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate the hyperpolarization mechanism of pain reduction;

#FIG. 2 illustrates the gate control mechanism of pain reduction;

#FIG. 3 illustrates an opposite pad placement for shoulder pain;

#Description of Electrotherapeutic Apparatus Function

#Unlike other available methods discussed above, the embodiment disclosed introduces two high frequency electronic wave-forms (“Feed Signals”) into the body non-invasively through a single proprietary disposable pad placed on the skin opposite the pain site (“Opposite Pad”) as shown in FIG. 3. The Feed Signals pass through the body to a second proprietary disposable pad at the treatment site (“Pain Site Pad”) as shown in FIG. 4.

#The Feed Signals are exponentially multiplied by materials within the body giving rise to a low frequency component, the beat frequency, in the form of an electric field within the volume of tissue defined by the geometry of the body between the electrodes. The size of the volume of tissue affected can be changed and is dependent upon electrode placement, geometry and materials, as well as the amplitude of the Feed Signal.