#electrotherapy

Arthritis patient undergoing electrotherapy which was supposed to loosen stiffness by stimulating muscles

Disclaimer: I am not anything close to a doctor; I just took some classes on electricity. Not everything I ascribe to electroshock therapy works (but the part about zapping your brain into killing depression is real).

I just remembered that if you want to stimulate your brain directly with electricity, you need to shave your hair so that it doesn't interfere with the electric leads. Maybe Ingo isn't naturally bald, and he shaved his head?

So maybe Joltik therapy is first discovered when a trainer lets their Joltik nibble-zap them affectionately, and they find that their throwing arm is no longer sore. Electrified Joltik bites are relatively weak and much more precise than a Thundershock, so even though you could use another Electric-type, they're the easiest to train.

The local doctors or healers or whatever then mapped out exactly where and how a Joltik nipping at your body helps, and through decades of trial and error, created the first neurological map. I'm thinking that it's a bit like acupuncture and pressure points. They don't know what nerves are at this point, only that zapping this spot cures your depression. Entire schools are built to teach Joltik therapists (the trainers) and the Joltiks.

Centuries pass, Joltik therapy clashes with modern science and is seen as just folk healing, until a scientist starts running tests and finds that it really does help. Modern science even invents a new way to get electricity through your nerves: induction.

(IDK what you know about electricity, but induction in a nutshell: if you have electricity flowing through a wire at an unsteady rate, conductors around it will start charging with electricity. You can ask if you want to know more).

There are these little wire 'straws' for Joltiks to drink from, connected to a battery (or maybe a whole generator; I don't know how much power it would take). Drinking from the battery creates a current through the wire, which inducts a current into the patient's nerves. Since coiling the wires strengthen the effect, they're like little crazy straws for the Joltiks. Once you position the wires right, you have the Joltik take a deep chug. Better yet, get a line of Joltiks to take a bunch of chugs.

It's useful for people who don't like bugs on their skin, but traditionalists maintain that the Joltiks are happier doing their jobs directly rather than just chugging.

(I did a project on inducting current into brains, and one research paper said that it was better to induct than to directly drop electricity in through the skin, but I didn't really dig too deeply into counterpoints, so I'll take a step back on what would 'actually' be better. I do think that modern science would be better at mapping the brain, since the skull is in the way).

Since my question was originally about Emmet training his Joltiks for electrotherapy, does this mean that he's a licensed Joltik therapist? I think it would be funny either way; like, Elesa catches Ingo or Emmet asleep with a pile of Joltiks as a blanket. What would be funnier, Emmet showing her that he has a license, or him excitedly explaining that he read that this worked in a book? Or better yet, he had no idea that Joltik therapy already existed and just guessed.

Brother in Every Inch（2022)

"When a person is subjected to the action of such a coil, the proper adjustments being carefully observed, luminous streams are seen in the dark issuing from all parts of the body. These streams are short and of delicate texture when the number of breaks is very great and the action of the device b free of any irregularities, but when the number of breaks is small or the action of the device imperfect, long and noisy streams appear which cause some discomfort. The physiological effects produced with apparatus of this kind may be graduated from a hardly perceptible action when the secondary is at a great distance from the primary, to a most violent one when both coils are placed at a small distance. In the latter case only a few seconds are sufficient to cause a feeling of warmth all over the body, and soon after the person perspires freely. I have repeatedly, in demonstrations to friends, exposed myself longer to the action of the oscillations, and each time, after the lapse of an hour or so, an immense fatigue, of which it is difficult to give an idea, would take hold of me. It was greater than I experienced on some occasions after the most straining and prolonged bodily exertion. I could scarcely make a step and could keep the eyes open only with the greatest difficulty. I slept soundly afterward, and the after-effect was certainly beneficial, but the medicine was manifestly too strong to be used frequently.

"One should be cautious in performing such experiments for more than one reason. At or near the surface of the skin, where the most intense action takes place, various chemical products are formed, the chief being ozone and nitrogen compounds. The former is itself very destructive, this feature being illustrated by the fact that the rubber insulation of a wire is destroyed so quickly as to make the use of such insulation entirely impracticable. The compounds of nitrogen, when moisture is present, consists largely of nitric acid which might, by excessive application, prove hurtful to the skin. So far, I have not noted injuries which could be traced directly to this cause, though on several occasions burns were produced in all respects similar to those which were later observed and attributed to the Röntgen rays. This view is seemingly being abandoned, having not been substantiated by experimental facts, and so also is the notion that these rays are transverse vibrations. But while investigation is being turned in what appears to be the right direction, scientific men are still at sea. This state of things impedes the progress of the physicist in these new regions and makes the already hard task of the physician still more difficult and uncertain.

"One or two observations made while pursuing experiments with the apparatus described might be found as deserving mention here. As before stated, when the oscillations in the primary and secondary circuits are in synchronism, the points of highest potential are on some portion of the terminal T. The synchronism being perfect and the length of the secondary coil just equal to one-quarter of the wave length, these points will be exactly on the free end of terminal T, that is, the one situated farthest from the end of the wire attached to the terminal. If this be so and if now the period of the oscillations in the primary be shortened, the points of highest potential will recede towards the secondary coil, since the wave-length is reduced and since the attachment of one end of the secondary coil to the ground determines the position of the nodal points, that is, the points of least potential. Thus, by varying the period of vibration of the primary circuit in any manner, the points of highest potential may be shifted accordingly along the terminal T, which has been shown, designedly, long to illustrate this feature. The same phenomenon is, of course, produced if the body of a patient constitutes the terminal, and an assistant may by the motion of a handle cause the points of highest potential to shift along the body with any speed he may desire. When the action of the coil is vigorous, the region of highest potential is easily and unpleasantly located by the discomfort or pain experienced, and it is most curious to feel how the pain wanders up and down, or eventually across the body, from hand to hand, if the connection to the coil is accordingly made — in obedience to the movement of the handle controlling the oscillations. Though I have not observed any specific action in experiments of this kind, I have always felt that this effect might be capable of valuable use in electro-therapy.

"Another observation which promises to lead to much more useful results is the following: As before remarked, by adopting the method described, the body of a person may be subjected without danger to electrical pressures vastly in excess of any producible by ordinary apparatus, for they may amount to several million volts, as has been shown in actual practice. Now, when a conducting body is electrified to so high a degree, small particles, which may be adhering firmly to its surface, are torn off with violence and thrown to distances which can be only conjectured. I find that not only firmly adhering matter, as paint, for instance, is thrown off, but even the particles of the toughest metals are torn off. Such actions have been thought to be restricted to a vacuous inclosure, but with a powerful coil they occur also in the ordinary atmosphere. The facts mentioned would make it reasonable to expect that this extraordinary effect which, in other ways, I have already usefully applied, will likewise prove to be of value in electro-therapy. The continuous improvement of the instruments and the study of the phenomenon may shortly lead to the establishment of a novel mode of hygienic treatment which would permit an instantaneous cleaning of the skin of a person, simply by connecting the same to, or possibly, by merely placing the person in the vicinity of a source of intense electrical oscillations, this having the effect of throwing off, in a twinkle of the eye, dust or particles of any extraneous matter adhering to the body. Such a result brought about in a practicable manner would, without doubt, be of incalculable value in hygiene and would be an efficient and time-saving substitute for a water bath, and particularly appreciated by those whose contentment consists in undertaking more than they can accomplish.

"High frequency impulses produce powerful inductive actions and in virtue of this feature they lend themselves in other ways to the uses of the electro-therapeutist. These inductive effects are either electrostatic or electrodynamic. The former diminish much more rapidly with the distance — with the square of the same — the latter are reduced simply in proportion to the distance. On the other hand, the former grow with the square of intensity of the source, while the latter increase in a simple proportion with the intensity. Both of these effects may be utilized for establishing a field of strong action extending through considerable space, as through a large hall, and such an arrangement might be suitable for use in hospitals or institutions of this kind, where it is desirable to treat a number of patients at the same time."

–Nikola Tesla

“Dr. Schnee’s four-cell bath.” Illustrated price list of electro-medical apparatus. 1905.