Good Vibrations: The History of Electrotherapy

Although often viewed as suspicious or quack medicine by many in the medical profession, cities around the world became home to university departments, medical societies and practices devoted to electrotherapy. While at the same time, mass consumerism and production allowed average citizens to purchase cheap devices from sales catalogs, local electricians and any number of medical supply companies and salesmen. 

A growing field in electrotherapy and electrotherapeutics emerged in the late 19th century as medical practitioners experimented with large, electric “apparatuses” and cured patients with shocks to the body. Electrotherapy societies were established with medical doctors and professors among their members, many of whom would go on to publish journal articles and textbooks with illustrated and detailed instructions.