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According to
the Arndt Schultz Law, substances vary in action depending
on whether the concentration is high, medium, or low.High
concentrations kill; medium concentrations suppress or inhibit;
and low, or minute concentrations stimulate. Over a century ago
Schultz’s experiments (1888) showed that many chemical agents
had the effect of stimulating the growth and respiration of
yeast. The phenomenon became known as the Arndt-Schultz Law and
was widely referred to in the pharmacological literature for
over 30 years and became one of the scientific principles.
Hueppe
(1896) at about that time made similar observations on bacteria,
apparently unaware of Schultz’s experiments. His generalization
became known as Hueppe’s Rule. Long before them both, the German
alchemist and physician Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim
((1493-1541), who coined for himself the name Paracelsus, had
recognized with respect to the medical use of small amounts of
toxic chemicals that their efficacy depended principally on the
dose. Such ideas are perhaps more easily accepted nowadays, when
it is in the experience of most to use the stimulatory effects
of alcohol, caffeine or nicotine, all of which are toxic at high
concentrations.
Much later Southam and Ehrlich (1943) studied the effect
of a natural antibiotic in cedar wood that inhibits the growth
of wood-decaying fungi. They found that subinhibitory
concentrations of the antibiotic had the reverse effect and
stimulated fungal growth. The term “hormesis” was coined to
describe it.
Some of the observations have an interesting origin.
In the later stages of World War II, when supplies of penicillin
were in such short supply, work of Miller et al. (1945)
explained why reducing the dose to make short supplies of the
new drug go further sometimes had the reverse of the desired
effect. At low doses penicillin actually stimulated the growth
of Staphylococcus.
Arndt - Schultz
Law and Microcurrent Therapy Microcurrent therapy, commonly
referred as MENS (Microcurrent Electrical Neuromuscular
Stimulation), is extremely small pulsating currents of
electricity.
These currents are finely tuned to the level of the normal
electrical exchanges which take place at body’s cellular level.
These currents being more biologically compatible than any other
electrical stimulation device. MENS have the ability to
penetrate the cell - as opposed to passing over the cell as
other stimulation devices do. It works on ARNDT - SCHULTZ Law
which states that: “Weak stimuli increases physiological
activity and very strong stimuli inhibit or abolish activity.”
This subsensory
current normalizes the ordinary activity taking place within the
cell if it has been injured or otherwise compromised.
The external
addition of microcurrent will increase the production of ATP,
protein synthesis, oxygenation, ion exchange, absorption of
nutrients, elimination of waste products, and neutralizes the
oscillating polarity of deficient cells. Homeostasis is
restored.
The biologically sensitive stimulation effect of microcurrent
picks up where the body’s own electrical current fails, as the
human body must adhere to the natural law of electricity which
is: “electricity must take path of least resistance.” Therefore,
its electrical current is destined to move around an injury or
defect, rather than through it.
By normalizing cell activity, inflammation is reduced while
collagen producing cells are increased. Healthy cell metabolism
creates a healthy, pain free internal environment. Arndt -
Schultz Law and Homoeopathy-Law of Minimum Dose The similimum
remedy works in a sick individual while administered in minimum
possible dose. The minute dose means that smallest quantity of a
medicine which is sufficient to produce the least possible
excitation of the vital force. This concept of minimum dose led
to the discovery of potentisation theory.
Administration
of the minimum dose has the following advantages:
 No unwanted reaction
 The specific dynamic action which produces
the uncommon, characteristic, distinguished symptoms of the
drug.
 Not any chance of organic damage nor there do any risk
of drug addiction and drug effects.
The concept of minimum dose can be verified by Arndt-Schultz law
that small doses stimulate, medium doses suppress and large
doses kill. In other words, the action of small and very large
doses of the same substance on living matter is opposite.
The Law of Least
Action, formulated by Maupertius, the French mathematician,
states: “The quantity of action necessary to affect any change
in nature is the least possible; the decisive amount is always a
minimum, an infinitesimal.”
Health is a theme
of ideal equilibrium, perfect balance, trivial circumstances may
persuade it, and so may it be balanced by the least possible
medication.
The second Law is
the most controversial: use the infinitesimal dose, a dose so
small that no molecules are left in the substance resulting in a
gentle speedy, cure, with no side effects, allergic reactions or
toxic after effects.
Arndt-Schultz
says that, “Minimal doses of a drug stimulate, medium doses
inhibit or suppress and large doses destroy cellular activity.”
Pasteur should have known this when he introduced his rabies
vaccination, killing thousands of innocent people before he
finally reduced the doses. This was 1888 and unfortunately, he
did not learn from the genius of Hahnemann who already 100 years
before Pasteur and Koch, cured epidemics of scarlatina, typhoid,
cholera, syphilis, gonorrhea and TB. That success alone has
given Hahnemann his well-deserved place in history but he did so
much more. However, the potency of homeopathic medicines is
believed to increase with their dilution over many orders of
magnitude, rather than restricted to a narrow range of
concentrations like hormesis.
Arndt - Schultz
Law and Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) & Physiotherapy
Electrotherapy and low-level laser are used in physiotherapy to
assist in the attenuation of pain and to stimulate tissue
repair. As such, their application is also bound by the
Arndt-Schultz Law of Biomodulation, as described above. Thus, it
can be seen that the dosage delivered by the practitioner during
a laser treatment is determined by the condition being treated,
and the desired therapeutic effect. For example, if the desired
effect of an initial treatment is that of pain attenuation, an
inhibitory dosage (8.0 to 16.0 Joules/cm2) would be indicated.
Australian
research has also shown that dosages of between 0.5 and 5
Joules/cm2 (Laakso et al, 1994) applied to Myofascial Trigger
Points will effect an analgesic response through the body’s
hormonal/opoid mechanisms. If the desired effect is that of
tissue repair, then the required dosage per treatment point will
generally fall within the optimal therapeutic window between 0.5
and 5 Joules/cm2. Available laser Output Power may range from
5mW to 500mW, with the higher powers indicated for larger muscle
groups and treatment of the back. Near-infrared lasers penetrate
further into the tissue. Multi-diode cluster probes may be
effective in reducing overall treatment times where large tissue
areas are to be treated. However, it must be noted that
multi-diode cluster probes generally contain multiple
wavelengths, which can lead to a degradation of the
effectiveness of laser therapy (Karu, 1998) Treatment will be
effected by application of the laser probe to points along
tendons and ligaments, and at the origins and insertions of
muscles. Larger muscles can be treated by application of the
laser in a grid pattern to a series of points across the body of
the muscle.
Joint conditions,
such as osteoarthritis, can be treated by applying the laser
probe to a series of points along the joint line, aiming the
probe tip at the articular surface where possible, and to the
origins and insertions of muscles around the joint. Open wound
healing can be accelerated through laser therapy, by the
application of 4 Joules/cm2 to a series of points in a 1cm
square grid pattern across the surface of the wound. As a
gereral rule, optimal biostimulation is effected by the
application of smaller dosages-per-point to more points at the
treatment site. Optimal bioinhibition is achieved through
applying higher dosages-per-point, but to less treatment points.
Arndt - Schultz
Law and LLLT & Acupuncture Laser Acupuncture relies upon similar
dosage principles as needling, and knowledge of acupuncture
theory and practice is required. Dosage is determined by way of
the intended effect, which is generally characterised as to
TONIFY or SEDATE Acupuncture Points (APs), Ah-Shi Points, and
Trigger Points (TPs).
Basing dosage selection upon the Arndt-Schultz Law, it can be
seen that low dosages will TONIFY, whereashigher dosages will
SEDATE.
Dosages of 0.5 to 2.5 J/cm2 are reported to be effective in the
stimulation (tonification) of superficial Acupuncture Points,
with 2.5 to 5.0 J/cm2being effective for deeper APs and
Myofascial Trigger Points. Higher dosages (8 - 12 J/cm2) are
effective for the sedation of APs.
LEDs and LASERs both generate biomodulatory effects within
living tissue, however, most published research
relates to LASER; Therapeutic effects of laser are both
wavelength and dosage dependent;
Low dosages stimulate, high dosages inhibit (ref:Arndt-Schultz
Law of Biomodulation) - both have therapeutic applications;
Optimal therapeutic window for photobiostimulation -0.5 to 5.0
Joules/cm2;
Optimal Biostimulation: lower dosages per point - more treatment
points;
Optimal Bioinhibition: higher dosages per point - less treatment
points;
Visible red wavelengths (~620-690 nanometers) -shallow
penetration - superficial tissue treatment, eg. wound healing,
superficial APs, acne, etc.;
Infra-red
wavelengths (~760-1260 nanometers) - deeper penetration - deeper
tissue treatment, eg. musculoskeletal injuries, sports therapy,
deeper APs and myofascial TPs, also wound healing,etc; High
Output Power + Infrared Wavelength + Safe Power Density =
Maximum Effective Penetration Treatment parameters to be
recorded in minimum terms of Output Power (mW), Beam Spot Size
(cm2), Treatment Duration (Seconds), and, Wavelength (nm); Laser
therapy works on the principle of inducing a biological response
through energy transfer, in that the photonic energy delivered
into the tissue by the laser modulates the biological processes
within that tissue, and those within the biological system of
which that tissue is a part.
The Arndt-Schultz Law of Biomodulation infers that low dosages
of photonic energy will stimulate those biological processes,
and higher dosages will inhibit them.
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