It is important that the large number of sick and vulnerable patients with COVID-19 in our Hospitals do not develop iatrogenic harm. High dependency units and all wards need to remember to protect vulnerable groups of patients from more than the impact of the virus - the issue of iatrogenic harm is of serious concern because it amplifies the impact on the individual and NHS resources. If vulnerable patients develop any form of iatrogenic harm it will not only put them at greater risk but will probably delay discharge and use extra NHS resources that at this time are more precious than ever.

For several years we have worked successfully with the Stimulette Den2x (replaced by RISE Stimulator) with many home based clients in the UK. The product was designed for simple use in a home environment and has proved itself to be very effective in restoring muscle tissue bulk and quality with clients who have an injury to the spine or peripheral nerves resulting in muscle denervation.

Electrical stimulation is extensively used for the symptomatic control of pain. Although the idea had been proposed for many years (decades even) the rationale boost was provided by the so called “gate control theory” of pain proposed in the mid 1960s by Meizack and Wall.

This article is about pain - and the waveforms included in the Stimulette Edition 5 S2x for working with various kinds of pain.

As we saw in my recent article, (Electrotherapy, FES and it's historical roots) Electrotherapy and it’s cousin, electrical stimulation, have some deep and colourful roots. The stories of applying electrical energy to the body for therapeutic purposes have sometimes stretched the imagination, have sometimes inspired quackery but also produced some fantastic results along the way. In simple terms, the aim is to deliver electrical energy to the tissues of the body in a precisely controlled manner, that will bring about physiological change and by this means achieve some therapeutic benefit.

The new Edition 5 S2x electrotherapy device hosts a number of excellent stimulation protocols but we find that knowledge about their application is not that well understood. In a series of articles we will take a look at some of these protocols and how they might be used. The first protocol we explore is sometimes known as “Russian Stimulation” but it also goes by other names - for example Kotz stimulation or Burst Mode Alternating Current which does tend to lead to some confusion.

Swallowing disorders are common and serious after stroke, brain injury, in ALS and a range of other conditions. For the diagnosis and treatment of swallowing disorders it is obviously important to have a reliable identification and evaluation of swallowing disorders. For use in the everyday clinic, non-invasive procedures which would allow objective, reliable swallowing detection would represent a significant advance. This system is now available as RehaIngest created by Hasomed GmbH. This development combines EMG of critical muscles along with Bioimpedance.