The use of heat for a therapeutic purpose dates hundreds of years back. In the Western world the first registered observations belong to Hipocrates, towards 500 AC. In the splendor of the Roman Empire, thermal baths constituted a habit, creating complete facilities for the treatment of diseases by using humid and dry heat in local or general applications.

With the lapse of time thermal therapy has been perfected and other forms of heat have appeared such as the infrared.

When electrical energy is combined with rapid alternating currents we obtain a wave of high frequency. High frequency is indicated every time a hyperthermia (high temperature) is required to be localized, energetic and have sufficient depth range.

Local hyperthermia produces a net diminution in the viscosity of liquids and organic colloids. This justifies the use of localized heat to accelerate the absorption of spills, especially for cases of hydrarthrosis and drainage of liquids in a joint cavity.

When a tissue is heated, an aperture of the capillaries occurs. This increases the capillary flow, the filtration capability and the absorption of intercellular liquids that are in excess or are part of a spill from a join cavity. These circulatory modifications are unquestionably important in the therapeutic application in chronic joint rheumatisms, arthrosis and sequels of traumatisms in bone joints.


Heat has a moderate, slow, but effective analgesic effect. The analgesic effect is used in neuralgias, traumatic pains and rheumatisms in joints. Parallel to the analgesic action, heat has an antispasmodic effect on skeletal muscles, thus widely used on visceral colic, hypertonia, contractures and cramps.

Finally, heat of high frequency causes an attenuation of the general activity of the nervous system and psychic sedation. This justifies the use of hot bath therapy for states of excitation or psychosomatic tension.

	For chronic inflammatory processes of the genitourinary apparatus, where high frequency is irreplaceable. Concrete examples are: pelvic inflammatory disease, pos-surgery adhesions, prostatitis, epididymitis, etc...
	In rheumatic and degenerative diseases, high frequency is indicated in arthrosis, periArthrosis on shoulder and hips and particularly in fibroma.
	Traumatic syndromes: fractures of fatigue and sequels of pos-surgery fractures. High frequency accelerates tissue repair process and fosters formation of a bone callus.
	In neuralgias, specially in the sciatic and post-herpes.
	In otorhinolaryngology, high frequency has its applications in torpid sinusitis and in some types of otitis. It is also used in otosclerosis because of the circulatory action of the heat.
	In respiratory diseases such as bronchial asthma and pulmonary bronchitis.