Old faradism machine

[gcoe]

Hey Physiobob that is one hell of a site! The illustrations are great!

Graham R, the Faradic machine was in use in the profession even during the the 1980's. I was trained to use it - the unit was a bit more automated than the coke bottle plunger variety but it basically did the same thing. the plunger was of course the induction coil and why the machine was named after one of the greatest physisicists and chemists, Michael Faraday.

It was actually a very useful piece of equipment for eliciting a muscle contraction although it hurt like hell. I still have a scar on my thigh from where a fellow student gave me an electrical burn while we were practising on each other.

Eventually the new battery-powered neuromuscular stimulators replaced the Faradic unit as the current was safer and more comfortable and you could do more fancy things with these little units like sequence a number of muscles to contract.

[Graham R]

Thanks gcoe & physiobob
That site is excellent although I had already seen a similar collection of
H. G. Fischer machines elsewhere, a company with a truly amazing history.
I suppose the nearest looking thing I have found is the two floor-
standing models at the bottom of this page

[Forum won't let me post link as newby]

but no nodding-donkey / coke-bottle rheostat!

Interesting that the brochure is dated 1953, that would be the year my Dad
set up his practice, but I always assumed that any expensive equipment would have been second-hand, times were hard then, and my parents had just got married bought their house and had me!

1. I would have been 6 or 7 when he Ceased practicing from home and his treatment couch was replaced by an upright piano, and the frosted glass in the front room windows were replaced with clear.

Also those machines in the brochure are described as low-voltage therapy,
I suppose that is broadly "faradism", I imagine that term is old-fashioned now.

Just another childish memory in passing; on one piece of equipment, possibly an infra-red lamp, the highest setting on the control knob was not "MAX" but "OUCH!"

Best Regards, Graham.