Interferential Therapy (IfT) is a low frequency current electrotherapy treatment. It uses 2 medium frequency currents that literally “interfere” with each other and the difference between them is a “beat frequency” that the body recognises as a low frequency current.

The skin has a high resistance to low frequency currents. So this is a cheat way of generating the low frequency inside the body.

The list above is not exhaustive. These are just some of the conditions that I have successfully treated.

The key to successful treatment with IfT is all about making the correct diagnosis; applying the technique correctly and using the right frequencies for that condition.

I have also successfully treated horses and dogs for joint and tendon problems!

There is a great deal of research into the effects of low frequency currents on different systems in the body and on a wide variety of diseases and conditions including work on pathogens, tumours and stress incontinence/

A great deal of laboratory research was done in the mid 1980s by Prof Lilyana Nikolova, but these findings need to be repeated now.

Drugs and surgery are not always the answer.

The body itself produces low frequency currents. Different cells produce different frequencies of current. These different frequencies can be detected with ECGs (heart), EMGs (muscles), EEGs (brain) etc These scans can detect problem with particular cells.

IfT produces currents in the same range as the body cells.

It is all about getting the right frequencies into the “target tissues”. In this way, IfT can stimulate a whole range of tissues and systems, which in turn stimulates the repair processes following injury, and even some diseases.

Because IfT generates the currents inside the body, then with careful applications, it is possible to target almost anywhere in the body - from the outside - using electrodes on the skin.

My stock phrase for patients is “The worst I can do is have no effect at all”.

That said, there have been very rare occasions where small burns have been reported, but these are most likely to be inadequate application techniques.

There are obvious “special precautions” such as not applying IfT through the uterus of a pregnant women; the chest of someone who has a pacemaker, or an “electrical” problem with the heart; or even someone who is not fully aware of what the treatment is.

Metal in the body such as hip replacements are no problem. IfT produces slight;y more than 1 watt of power. your hands produce 6 watts! In other words, there is no heating effect through metal.

Over the years IfT has been used mainly by physiotherapists in the UK. Unfortunately, these days in the NHS , they do not have the time to use any electrotherapy.

Equally, they have stopped teaching electrotherapy in the universities for some years now as a great deal of the research was done more than 5 years ago.

The work of the Physiotherapist used to be Primary care/treatment or Rehabilitation. With the abandonment of Electrotherapy in general, then we have lost that Primary care/treatment element in the NHS.

Physiotherapists in Private Practice who left the NHS 10 years or more ago, know what can be done for the patients first hand and they are still using IfT, ultrasound etc.