ABSTRACT
The employment of physical energy to modulate osteogenetic response and, ultimately, to enhance fracture healing is a topic widely researched in Europe. Interest in the relation between biological systems and electrical energy can be dated back as far as the studies by Galvani (1) and by Matteucci (1811-1868) who, already in the nineteenth century, had identified the lesion currents and had perceived their role in repair processes. In the last century the studies performed by Fukada and Yasuda (2) and by Bassett and Becker (3) identified the relationship between mechanical loading and electrical activity in the bone, wherein lie the scientific origins of the electrical, magnetic, and mechanical stimulation of osteogenesis.
