Histoire de l’électrostimulation en médecine et en rééducation

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. Galvani's (1737–1798) description of “animal electricity” and A. Volta's (1745–1827) discovery of bimetallic electricity and invention of the voltaic battery prompted renewed interest in the therapeutic effects of galvanism. 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.