ALPHA-STIM M - Page 11

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with the skin. Ergonomic and user-friendly features (such as the Smart Probe,
lock, auto-off timers and alarm that warns you if an electrode falls off) make the
Alpha-Stim
®
M reliable, easy, quick, and fun to use.
The Alpha-Stim
®
M was developed by neurobiologist, Dr. Daniel L. Kirsch
and engineer, Raymond Chan. Dr. Kirsch has been a leading pioneer in the field
of electromedicine since 1972. He was board-certified in pain management by
the American Academy of Pain Management from 1990 - 2015, and awarded
the Richard S. Weiner Pain Educator of the Year Award by AAPM in 2008. He
became a Fellow of the American Institute of Stress in 1997. He is also a Member
of Inter-Pain, the organization for pain physicians in Germany and Switzerland.
He is the Electromedical Department Editor of the journal, Practical Pain
Management and a Consulting Editor for the Journal of Neurotherapy. Dr. Kirsch
has served as Clinical Director of the Center for Pain and Stress-Related
Disorders at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City and the
Sports Medicine Group in Santa Monica, California. He is an author of books
and articles and lectures frequently to physicians and psychologists worldwide
on pain and stress management and is an expert research and practice
consultant to Veterans Affairs Medical Centers and the United States Army.
The application of electromedical currents is not a new concept. Ancients
recognized the therapeutic value of naturally occurring electrical phenomena
long before William Gilbert defined electricity in 1600. Both Aristotle and Plato
referred to the Black Torpedo (electric ray fish) prescribed in 46 AD by the
physician Scribonius Largus for the relief of a variety of medical conditions from
headaches to gout (head to foot). In the 1800s dentists reported pain reduction
using early and somewhat crude electromedical devices.
By the late 1800s electrical devices were in widespread use to manage pain
and claimed to cure a variety of medical disorders. The exuberant claims of early
electrical technologies facilitated by the political clout of the pharmaceutical
lobbies caused this form of therapy to fall into disrepute by the medical
profession in the early part of the 20th century. As a result medical colleges
stopped teaching electrotherapeutics. Biophysics was virtually eliminated from
medical practice leaving chemistry as the master science and with it the burden