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Electrotherapy for Pelvic Floor Disorders: Historical Background

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Electrical Stimulation for Pelvic Floor Disorders

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Abstract

In the last 10 years, more than 700 papers have been published about sacral nerve stimulation, and over 500 papers about other techniques as tibial nerve stimulation, pudendal nerve stimulation, transcutaneous electrical stimulation, electrical rehabilitation up to acupuncture or electroacupuncture. In every urological or colorectal meeting, many presentations and a lot of time are spent to the discussion about these treatment options, confirming what history teaches us. In fact, electrotherapy has always been a source of great interest, great discussions, and great suggestion. Electrotherapy has been used for medical purpose since ancient times.

The Ancient Egyptians and later the Greeks and Romans recognized that electrical fishes are capable of generating electric shocks for relief of pain. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, these natural producers of electricity were replaced by man-made electrical devices. This happened in the following phases. The first was the application of static electrical currents (Franklinism), which was produced by a friction generator. The second phase was Galvanism. This method applied a direct electrical current to the skin by chemical means. In the third phase, the electrical current was induced intermittently and in alternate directions (called Faradism). The nineteenth century was the “golden age” of electrotherapy. The main historical events of the modern pelvic floor electrotherapy and some consideration about the magical point of view of electrotherapy were reported.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pelvic Floor Center, Ercole Franchini Hospital, Montecchio Emilia, Italy

    Jacopo Martellucci

  2. General, Emergency and Minimally Invasive Surgery, AOU Careggi University Hospital, Largo Brambilla 3, Florence, 50134, Italy

    Jacopo Martellucci

  3. University of Siena, Siena, Italy

    Jacopo Martellucci

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Correspondence to Jacopo Martellucci .

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  1. General, Emergency and Minimally Invasive Surgery, Careggi University Hospital, Florence, Italy

    Jacopo Martellucci

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Martellucci, J. (2015). Electrotherapy for Pelvic Floor Disorders: Historical Background. In: Martellucci, J. (eds) Electrical Stimulation for Pelvic Floor Disorders. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06947-0_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06947-0_1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-06946-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-06947-0

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