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Russian forms of electrical stimulation became popular to a large extent as a result of the activities of Kots, who claimed force gains of up to 40% in elite athletes as a result of what was then a new form of stimulation. He did not provide details of his published work, nor did he give references. Russian electrical stimulation became popular despite the lack of research in the English-language literature. No studies published in English examined whether the "10/50/10" treatment regimen (10 seconds of stimulation followed by 50 seconds rest, repeated for 10 minutes) advocated by Kots is optimal, and only one study addressed whether maximum muscle torque was produced at an alternating current frequency of 2.5 kHz. The few studies that compared low-frequency monophasic pulsed current and Russian electrical stimulation are inconclusive. This article reviews and provides details of the original studies by Kots and co-workers. The authors contend that these studies laid the foundations for the use of Russian forms of electrical stimulation in physical therapy. The authors conclude that there are data in the Russian-language literature that support the use of Russian electrical stimulation but that some questions remain unanswered. [Ward AR, Shkuratova N. Russian electrical stimulation: the early experiments. Phys Then: 2002;82:1019-1030.]
Key Words: Alternating current, Electrical stimulation, Kilohertz frequencies, Transcutaneous electrical stimulation
Introduction
Electrical stimulation is used extensively in physical therapy, and "Russian currents" have been advocated for use in increasing muscle force.1,2 This form of electrical stimulation seems to us to be the least understood in terms of physiological effects. Russian currents are alternating currents (AC) at a frequency of 2.5 kHz that are burst modulated at a frequency of 50 Hz with a 50% duty cycle. The stimulus is applied for a 10-second "on" period followed by a 50-second "off' or rest period, with a recommended treatment time of 10 minutes per stimulation session.1 This stimulation regimen (called the "10/50/10" regimen), applied once daily over a period of weeks, has been claimed to result in force gains, but many of the claims appear to be anecdotal.3
Selkowitz1 has reviewed the experimental evidence in the English-language literature for increasing muscle force by use of Russian electrical stimulation. He concluded that there is convincing evidence for increased muscle...