Stimulative Diathermia
The use of diathermia for stimulating purposes—to arouse sluggish tissues to increased activity—has not the wide appli¬cation that the more superficial, sedative diathermia has; but, where indicated, it is as important and beneficial. The skilled operator or physician will know, of course, what conditions call for one or the other of these methods, and how to apply each so as to produce the desired effects. In cancer problems additional skill and knowledge of technique are absolutely essential.
The physiological heat generated within the tissues by diathermia helps the body to react to disease-producing condi¬tions and to overcome them. Inflammation is Nature’s reac¬tion to injury, toxic irritation, and infection. Diathermia assists the reparative process by increasing the flow of blood, increasing glandular activity, and producing a transudate of defensive serum and white blood-corpuscles (phagocytes) in the tissues about the capillaries. In other words, diathermia produces a local fever, which aids in the removal of causes of congestion, pain, and other local symptoms. When Nature re¬quires additional heat to remove some special condition, such as congestions or infections, a fever is produced. This is at¬tended with general symptoms of more or less distress, but the local “fever” created by diathermia produces no general reaction. Even in an organ or tissue already passively con¬gested, diathermia will produce favorable effects, for it brings about a dilatation of the capillaries, the contraction of which produces the congestion.