What’s Hot and What’s Not Early Electro-Thermotherapy for Musculoskeletal and Other Ailments
By Kent M. Perryman, PhD IF ONE LOOKS AROUND THE Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society’s Medical History Museum, they can’t help but notice the variety of clinical heating devices that Dr. Bob LaPerriere, our curator, has collected. Heat therapy has been promoted since the time of the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations to treat sore muscles and injuries. Heat treatments were thought to increase blood flow for tissue healing and to decrease pain. Prior to the advent of pharmacotherapy and antibiotics, heat therapy was applied directly to the body for pain relief. Traditionally, this took the form of hot water. Thermal spas built near natural volcanic vents diverted water to pools for public baths. The ancient Roman baths were renowned for this. Even today, spas and hot tubs are still marketed for their hydrotherapeutic benefits. Here I report on the early 20th century development of electrical devices to generate superficial and deep tissue heat.
Nikola Tesla and the Tesla Coil1
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Sierra Sacramento Valley Medicine
Following shortly after the invention of Edison’s incandescent light in 1891, Nikola Tesla introduced his Tesla coil. The circuit consisted of coil instead of iron core transformers, capacitors and a spark gap that could produce much higher voltage than that produced by conventional transformers. These coils were primarily incorporated into radio transmitters. Tesla, an electrical engineer, had left employment with Edison after Edison’s insulting offer for a raise. Tesla displayed his coils at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair along with some of his early Violet Ray machines.
Violet Ray2, 3, 4 Tesla believed his coils could be used to generate deep tissue heat for therapeutic purposes. Our society’s medical museum has a number of early hand-held and larger cabinetsize electro-thermotheraputic devices known as “Violet Ray Instruments” that utilize the Tesla coil for their operation.