[“CAN ELECTRICITY HEAL”?: HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF THE BEGINNINGS OF ELECTROTHERAPY IN CROATIA]

Acta Med Hist Adriat. 2022 Dec 12;20(2):277-296. doi: 10.31952/amha.20.2.6.
[Article in Croatian]

Abstract

In the period from the eighteenth to the twentieth century, electrotherapy was applied worldwide with various incidence and different results. The application of electrotherapy is an indicator of the acquisition and transfer of knowledge from the basic sciences (physics) to medicine and the transfer and adoption of treatment procedures from foreign environments to our own. In Croatia, the earliest information on electrotherapy came from advertising electrotherapy devices in the daily newspapers. It was followed by lessons on electricity, as well as the possibilities of its application mostly written by physicists in their popular publications. Croatian doctors’ publications about their experiences were first uncovered in 1897 on the pages of the professional journal Liječnički Vjesnik. This paper elaborates on the publications written during the first half of the 20th century. From the very beginning, this method has been accompanied by debates about its effectiveness and justification for its use, which have continued until today. The preserved electrotherapeutic devices presented in this paper are an important addition to medical historiography and a valuable segment of material medical culture, traces of which have been preserved in Croatia.

U razdoblju od 18. do 20. stoljeća elektroterapija se u različitim zemljama primjenjuje s različitom učestalošću i rezultatima. Primjena elektroterapije pokazatelj je usvajanja i prenošenja znanja iz temeljnih znanosti (fizike) u medicinu te prijenosa postupaka u liječenju iz stranih zemalja i njihova usvajanja u našoj sredini. Najranije informacije o elektroterapiji u Hrvatskoj odnose se na oglašavanje uređaja za elektroterapiju u medijskom prostoru, slijede ih poduke o elektricitetu i mogućnostima njegove primjene iz pera fizičara u publikacijama popularnog tipa, potom objave iskustava naših liječnika na stranicama strukovnih glasila. U ovom radu identificirani su sadržaji naših liječnika o elektroterapiji od 1897. i tijekom prve polovine 20. stoljeća. Od samih početaka ovu metodu prate rasprave o njezinoj učinkovitosti i opravdanju, koje traju do danas. Sačuvani elektroterapijski uređaji koji su prikazani u ovom radu važna su dopuna medicinskoj historiografiji i dragocjen segment medicinske materijalne kulture čiji su tragovi sačuvani i na području Hrvatske.

Keywords: electricity; electrotherapy; electrostimulation; history of medicine; Croatia.