Going to physical therapy for your neck or back? If so, you’ll likely be given a coordinated set oftreatment modalities.
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But your therapist may add in things like traction, moist heat, and other types of feel-good experiences that have varying degrees of effectiveness as proven via medical studies.
Iontophoresis Patch
One such treatment modality is callediontophoresis, or ionto for short. This procedure involves a patch that is placed on your skin. It is used most frequently to reduce inflammation and relieve pain.
Attached to the patch is a small pouch of medication. Both patch and pouch are connected to an ionto machine. As the medication is delivered through the pores of your skin, the ionto machine also applies a small electrical current, which further increases your skin’s permeability to the medication.
Ionto, Dexamethasone and More
With iontophoresis, it’s possible to program the delivery of the medication so that it’s distributed over time and/or in varying doses.
Lidocaine is a pain reliever and skin numbing agent that also has other medical uses outside the scope of orthopedic treatments.
History of Iontophoresis
As mentioned above, with iontophoresis treatments, the electric current enhances the delivery of thepain-relieving medicationas it moves through the barrier of the skin into where it can exert its effect.
In the past, experts believed the action of iontophoresis is to push the medication through the skin. More recently, though, they’ve updated their understanding of the specific way in which this modality works. In essence, they say, ionto helps open up microscopic pores in the outermost layer of the skin, which in turn allows the medication to flow freely into tissues.
Iontophoresis Development
A variety of technologies are being explored: nanotechnology, which is about working with small amounts of substances and currents, electroporation in which an electrical current is applied to cells to increase permeability of the cell, allowing medication (or things like DNA) to enter—sonophoresis for increasing medication absorption, device miniaturization, and the use of chemical enhancers.
What to Expect When You Get Iontophoresis
When you have an iontophoresis treatment, the physical therapist will likely have you lie down on a treatment table. They will then place two electrodes close to the area where inflammation is present. One of the electrodes will contain the pain medication—whether dexamethasone, lidocaine or something else.
The electrodes will be connected to the iontophoresis machine. The therapist will then use the machine to deliver an electrical current to the treatment area. In this way, the delivery of the medication to your underlying tissue is enhanced.
An iontophoresis patch is known for enabling a high concentration of medication to reach deeply—all the way to the muscles, with few, if any,side effects. But it also helps to distribute the dexamethasone, lidocaine, etc. to a larger surface area.
Ionto treatment lasts between 10 and 15 minutes and may be given either before or after the exercise portion of your session.
Ionto is not painful, but the study mentioned above found that it does not offer better outcomes than a course of physical therapy that does not include ionto.
2 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Beutler A.Musculoskeletal Therapies: Adjunctive Physical Therapy.FP Essent. 2018.Roustit M, Blaise S, Cracowski JL.Trials and tribulations of skin iontophoresis in therapeutics.Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2014;77(1):63-71. doi:10.1111/bcp.12128
2 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Beutler A.Musculoskeletal Therapies: Adjunctive Physical Therapy.FP Essent. 2018.Roustit M, Blaise S, Cracowski JL.Trials and tribulations of skin iontophoresis in therapeutics.Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2014;77(1):63-71. doi:10.1111/bcp.12128
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Beutler A.Musculoskeletal Therapies: Adjunctive Physical Therapy.FP Essent. 2018.Roustit M, Blaise S, Cracowski JL.Trials and tribulations of skin iontophoresis in therapeutics.Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2014;77(1):63-71. doi:10.1111/bcp.12128
Beutler A.Musculoskeletal Therapies: Adjunctive Physical Therapy.FP Essent. 2018.
Roustit M, Blaise S, Cracowski JL.Trials and tribulations of skin iontophoresis in therapeutics.Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2014;77(1):63-71. doi:10.1111/bcp.12128
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