Name/Title
LINDQUIST CHRONOWAVEEntry/Object ID
2021.04.002Description
THE LINDQUIST CHRONWAVE was an early (1939) employment of Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) to reduce musculo-skeletal pain. It incorporated vacuum tube technology to generate pulse-waveform currents that were delivered through gel-pad electrodes applied to the surface of various areas of the subject’s body and help reduce chronic and acute pain. Antidotal reports of electro-therapy have been around since the time of the ancient Egyptians in 2500 B.C., and during the 6th century A.D. in Rome by Scribonius Largus who stood on electric fish. Benjamin Franklin touted the therapeutic benefits of electrostatic currents for controlling headaches. The 19th century witnessed the popularity of many electro-magnetic quackery devices for pain management. But it wasn’t until 1971 that the modern TENS units was developed by American neurosurgeon Clyde Shealy. The empirical therapeutic efficacy of TENS was largely based on the 1965 Gate Control Theory of Drs. Ronald Melzack and Patrick Wall. The GATE theory postulates that electrically stimulating larger diameter, myelinated A-beta nerve fibers (touch and pressure) blocks pain impulses transmitted by smaller diameter, unmyelinated C nerve fibers from reaching the central nervous system where perception occurs. TENS has been demonstrated to successfully help reduce chronic and acute pain associated with low back discomfort, diabetic neuropathy and migraines, and is usually administered as an adjunct to pharmacotherapy for chronic pain.
Kent M. Perryman, Ph.D.