
3
Historical background
The idea ofthe presence of energy in the human body and the
dependence of health on its circulation was rst expressed by an-
cient healers from China, India and Egypt. The branch of medicine
in the Far East called acupuncture (stylostixis) has been for used
for over 3,000 years to treat many diseases by impacting pressure
points. Empirical knowledge about the connection of biologically
active points on the skin to internal organs has subsequently been
conrmed by profound research.
In Europe, the method become well-known and understood as
a result of work by German physician Reinhold Voll (1953). His ex-
tensive experimental studies established the electric (electromag-
netic) nature of the phenomenon, the end eect of inuence on
biologically active points (BAP), and proposed replacing classical
acupuncture with electroacupuncture. Dr. Voll developed a de-
tailed system of diagnosis based on measuring the electrical con-
ductivity of acupuncture points, and validated on a universal scale
with results that are easy to interpret. R. Voll published over 500
scientic papers, textbooks, atlases and a variety of manuals on
electroacupunctural diagnosis and therapy. As a result, acupunc-
ture diagnosis and therapy was set on the tracks of modern science
and received a powerful impetus for further development.
Among other things, R. Voll made a discovery. He discovered
that the therapeutic eects of an electric current on acupuncture
points not only depends on the current strength, but above all
on its frequency. It turned out that dierent, and sometimes just
very slightly dierent frequencies can produce dissimilar results in
the treatment. The fundamental nature of this discovery began to
show up much later.