Magnetotherapy for group treatment
Authors: Zhulev V.I. , Kaplan M.B. 
Published: November 2021

The advantage of complex magnetic therapy devices (MTD) is the possibility of forming magnetic fields that are complexly distributed in space and time, which provides focused treatment of a specific disease, taking into account the individual characteristics of the patient. To increase the throughput of the physiotherapy room, a solution is proposed for organizing the simultaneous treatment of several patients using one device. Within the framework of the study, an approach based on the use of a reconfigurable system was considered, in accordance with which the MTD is built in the form of a set of the same type of intelligent magnetotherapy cells (MTC) and a central control module. This structure is the basis of the hardware component of the MTC, designed for group magnetotherapy. The conceptual model of the MTC includes the following elements: a local control unit, a local interface module, a memory unit, an identification unit, a power interface unit, an inductor unit, and a control unit. The specified composition of MTC components, on the one hand, provides the possibility of autonomous operation of the cell, and on the other hand, it supports centralized control, diagnostics, and simultaneous start and stop of the magnetic field generation process. The main idea of the method for conducting group magnetotherapy is the generation by the central control module of a unified magnetotherapy technique formed on the basis of magnetotherapy techniques, each of which is selected taking into account the required individual treatment of a particular patient. Conventionally, the aggregate of MTC is divided into groups – field-forming systems, each of which is used to treat an individual patient. Each MFT operates in an autonomous mode, which is achieved due to the presence of a local control unit in the cell, which, through the local interface module, receives the data necessary for carrying out a magnetotherapy procedure, and after a group launch independently generates and controls the acting magnetic field. In addition, the analysis of the proposed solution is carried out in the work, as well as issues of possible technical implementation are considered. Thus, the advantage, determined by the autonomous mode of operation of the MTC, allows you to set the duration of the operation of each cell within the framework of the current magnetotherapy procedure, individually. As a result, at the end of a separate magnetotherapy procedure, the MTCs that were used for this procedure can be used to create a field-forming system for treating the next patient, without the need to wait for the end of all active magnetotherapy procedures. In the practical construction of an MTD intended for group magnetotherapy, it is recommended to use microcontrollers as control units, motor drivers as a power interface unit, and specialized DS2411 type microcircuits as an identification unit. One of the possible implementations can be a solution based on an Internet server, then it is recommended to choose Ethernet as the interface, and it is preferable to use the IP address of the MTC as the MTC identifier. The ideas and solutions considered in the framework of the task of implementing group magnetotherapy can be generalized and used for other physical fields used in physiotherapy.