Recent social media post raised numerous inquiries regarding “vibration therapy“, prompting Lead Stories to consult an expert and confirm that this image depicts an antique medical vibrator from the 1800s.
Physicians during the Industrial Revolution used mechanical vibration therapy to treat various conditions. Efficient manufacturing practices and increased electricity production led to technological progress at this time.
Hydrotherapy
Hydrotherapy has recently become the new buzz word in health-care circles. This form of exercise and physical therapy takes place in a warm pool using special equipment, providing an ideal way to work the muscles without stressing joints and lifting mood. Hydrotherapy has also proven useful in treating back pain, arthritis, fibromyalgia and neurological conditions as well as obesity as it helps burn calories while curbing appetite.
Hydrotherapy encompasses various treatments, from saunas and steam rooms (which use wet heat to promote sweating and therefore help rid the body of toxins), cold plunge pools, whirlpool baths or showers and sitz baths to long-standing traditions such as saunas. While these techniques have long been practiced as ways of improving immunity or helping weight loss or dealing with arthritis or chronic respiratory conditions (asthma/COPD), and even fibromyalgia issues – they’re now increasingly being seen as methods of improving immunity or dealing with weight issues associated with weight loss/arthritis/arthrosis issues/fibromyalgia issues/fibromyalgia issues/fibromyalgia issues etc.
Physiotherapists frequently include hydrotherapy in their clients’ treatment programs as it can be an excellent treatment option for chronic pain or injuries. Before commencing hydrotherapy it’s advisable to speak to your GP as some conditions or presentations may not be appropriate for hydrotherapy treatment.
Immersing yourself in hot water helps relax muscles and raise body temperature, increasing blood flow to an area of injury or discomfort and providing relief from inflammation, speedier recovery and lessened pain. Hydrotherapy can also be an excellent way to strengthen muscles. According to studies, vibration stimulation in water environments activates muscle spindle excitement and accelerates calcium release from sarcoplasmic reticulum thereby strengthening muscles. Increased strength will ultimately improve your balance and walking ability, while simultaneously strengthening your immune system by increasing white blood cell count; this enables your body to better fight off infections such as colds and flus. Furthermore, hydrotherapy may lower your blood pressure.
The Industrial Revolution
An image circulating on Facebook purports to depict people receiving “vibration therapy” for headaches in the 1800s; however, experts dispute its accuracy. At that time, doctors knew loud noises could cause concussions; Stephen Casper, historian of neurology and author of The Neurologists: A History of a Medical Specialty in Modern Britain told Snopes. Even using vibration machines would likely be too loud.
This photograph shows three individuals, two men and a woman, kneeling down with their heads inside a metal pot-shaped container. An apparent doctor, then hits it with a sledgehammer while several bystanders look on. “This is definitely fake,” states Snopes, as vibration therapy to treat headaches never used such devices.
Although this depiction is inaccurate, vibration therapy did exist in the 1800s–just not in its depicted form. Physiologists like Jean-Martin Charcot noticed improvements in symptoms among their patients when exposed to vibration therapy from horse-drawn and railway carriages; his theory suggested this caused their muscles to contract and stretch more effectively than they ever had done previously.
Researchers have developed machines that transmit vibration to various parts of the body, helping improve balance and muscle strength while decreasing spasticity in cerebral palsy (CP) patients.
Whole-body vibration (WBV) involves exercising on a vibrating platform which transmits vertical sinusoidal oscillations directly to your body, stimulating proprioceptors and inducing stretch reflexes, thus improving muscle function and balance while improving bone density as well as cardiovascular and musculoskeletal parameters.
Studies have demonstrated the efficacy of WBV to improve motor function, increase balance ability and decrease spasticity among stroke survivors. Combining it with physical therapy or conductive education interventions may also enhance quality-of-life for people living with CP.
The Manipulator
Vibration has long been used as an aid to human function and muscle performance since Ancient Greece. Physicians utilized saws covered with cotton thread to transfer vibrations directly onto certain areas of the body in order to improve performance, relieve pain and assist in treating disorders such as neuralgia, muscular atrophy, emaciation and constipation1.1*
By the 1890s, physicians had developed vibrators which were capable of massaging multiple areas of the body simultaneously – including abdominal area. Since these large, heavy and coal-powered vibrators were mostly utilized at upscale spas or by doctors with large practices, these vibrators were mostly utilized to treat hysteria; but also used against constipation and arthritis.
Jean-Martin Charcot noticed in the late 1800s that pilgrims with Parkinson’s disease could walk more upright due to cycloid vibration therapy or mobilization; this led him to create this technique using gentle mechanical vibrations without soundwaves as massagers2.2*
One of the primary applications of this technique was for relieving what’s known as a tickler headache. A tickler headache occurs due to fast muscle movement that creates tension in your neck and head and leads to burning or tingling sensations in your spine or scalp – such as being tickled.
Vibration massage was also employed to address fibromyalgia and other musculoskeletal disorders, including chronic fatigue, spondylolysis and myofascial pain syndrome. Furthermore, orthopaedic manual therapy practitioners utilized it as an additional means to assist in treating chronic neck and low back pain.
George Taylor, an American physician, designed The Manipulator as a form of vibration therapy to treat stroke patients. It consisted of a large and heavy coal-powered device called “The Manipulator.” Patients would sit comfortably on a padded table while their therapist placed a vibrating sphere onto their abdomen before producing mechanical vibration in broad ligaments via opposite hand movements on lower abdomen part, activating proprioceptors and stimulating stretch reflexes as well as improving balance abilities of stroke victims.
Mortimer Granville
Mortimer Granville was a man of many talents – he served as both hospital and workhouse surgeon, editor of a newspaper, medical writer and researcher, advocate of rational drinking, inventor (he patented an electromechanical vibrator in 1880) and advocate for responsible drinking. Additionally, his percusser device (also dubbed Granville’s Hammer) enabled treatments that had taken up to an hour previously to complete in mere minutes with great success.
Granville believed that human nerves had natural, healthy levels of vibration; when these levels became imbalanced due to disease, this device attempted to restore “the normal harmony of rhythm of nerves.”
As Dr. Sedgwick foresaw, his device could help physicians to use his vibrator device to massage patients’ pelvic area and increase muscular strength by releasing held-back energy. But he also realized it may have sensual uses; specifically he worried that women might use their vibrators device to mimic hysterical symptoms in order to obtain medical help (this was actually common practice among Victorian doctors according to Rachel Maines’s book Hysteria).
Granville devised a mechanism that would prevent fatigued hand muscles in female users and enable her to control speed of the machine herself. He was also able to increase vibration intensity significantly – something he found greatly increased the effectiveness of this procedure.
Granville used his device to treat more patients with his hysteria therapy and earn substantial sums in royalties, some of which went towards helping Emily Dalrymple and her settlement house. While Granville and Emily become engaged, he finds himself torn between professional aspirations and his romantic feelings for Emily.
By the 1920s, his vibrator had become so widely adopted that it allowed therapists to reduce treatment time and improve customer satisfaction rates by speeding up customer interactions and decreasing treatment time. It was also widely used for other ailments including gynaecological problems as well as to relieve muscle tension and improve circulation – becoming so popular that Sears and Roebuck offered it in their catalogue! Unfortunately when men realized how to manipulate it for sexual purposes its sale was restricted or outlawed entirely in some states.
