ABSTRACT

The use of electric and magnetic fields for treatment of injuries and pathologies has a long history. In early days of Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields (PEMF) application, devices were engineered when a sine wave signal is modulated by another signal which might be of low or high frequency. It has been reported that PEMF is beneficial in bone unification; reduction of pain, edema, and inflammation; increasing blood circulation; and stimulation of immune and endocrine systems. The biophysical mechanism(s) of interaction of weak electric and magnetic fields with biological systems has been intensively studied first by basic science. The biophysical dogma pushed into discussion in the middle of the 1980s and lingering to this day is that, unless the amplitude and frequencies of an applied electric field are sufficient to produce tissue heating, no biological effect should be expected.