Ultrashort Wave Therapy

a type of electrotherapy involving the therapeutic use of an alternating electromagnetic field with a frequency ranging from 30 to 300 megahertz.

The active factor in ultrashort wave therapy is the electric component of the electromagnetic field. Its therapeutic action is due to its thermal and oscillatory (specific) effects on electrically charged particles of tissues. The thermal effect is characterized by selectivity—that is, local warming of internal organs, chiefly as a result of the liberation of heat in tissues with low electrical conductivity. The specific effect consists in dynamic changes in the internal structure of water and protein molecules; these changes alter the functional condition and activity of metabolic and trophic processes in the tissues. The use of a pulsed rather than continuous electric field helps to limit the undesirable thermal effect and maximize the specific effect.

Ultrashort wave therapy is generally administered locally; two electrodes are used, and an air space is left between them and the body surface. The number of treatments given may range from three to ten, each treatment lasting from eight to ten minutes.

Anti-inflammatory, resorptive, antispastic, and analgesic action is characteristic of ultrashort wave therapy. It is used in the event of acute and subacute inflammatory processes in the internal organs, suppurative processes in the bones (osteomyelitis) and soft tissues (panaritium, furuncles, carbuncles), and inflammatory diseases of the peripheral nervous system, joints, and lymph nodes. Pulsed ultrashort wave therapy is effective in first-and second-stage hypertension and other diseases.

Contraindications include malignant neoplasms, active phase of tuberculosis, systemic blood diseases, cardiac insufficiency, hypotension, and tendency to bleed.