The stimuli shape of SCENAR and PhysioKey is different

The stimulus shape of PhysioKey device significantly differs from the stimulus shape of SCENAR. Therefore direct use of Physiokey to perform SCENAR therapy treatment techniques is not correct.

At first glance, the pulse shapes of PhysioKey and SCENAR are looking very similar. However, after careful analysis we can see significant differences, which definitely show that PhysioKey is absolutely not SCENAR.

Moreover, it is clearly visible both with and without the electrode-skin contact.

Let’s look at these two GIF’s showing how the pulse shape changes when we change PhysioKey’s energy from 56 to 99 (which corresponds to 100 to 250 for SCENAR)

Please note, that changing energy in SCENAR causes the change in amplitude, whereas in PhysioKey it doesn’t! The amplitude in PhysioKey starts to decrease only with energy less than 56. That means that the in PhysioKey the effective energy control range is only from 1 to 56!

Those who are eager for details can find the description of stimuli shapes differences below.

PhysioKey’s stimulus shape with minimal energy and without load is shown in Fig.1a (regular look), and on Fig.1b (10 times stretched). The horizontal scale (time scale) is 100 and 10 µs per square, It is shown at the bottom of oscillograms and circled in red.

On SCENAR device we adjusted the energy so that the duration of ‘pumping’ (first negative pulse) matches PhysioKey’s duration ((1 + 3/5) * 10 = 16µs) at the null line level (see Fig.1b – one square and three segments). For SCENAR that was energy 12. SCENAR stimulus form with that energy level (without load) is presented in Fig.1c in its regular look, and in Fig.1d stretched by 10 times.

Without load

fig1

Stretched oscillograms clearly show the difference between PhysioKey and SCENAR – the slope of the first pulse (red line) of the stimulus’ first positive pulse is different by more than 3 times! The shapes of these pulses are also significantly different. It is not possible to say which stimulus’ form is ‘better’ without clinical comparative trials, but the very fact of difference is obvious.

Now, let’s compare the stimuli shapes at the load. We used the load L1, which is used for SCENAR tuning and control check (its scheme is provided in every SCENAR device’s Operating manual). We also adjusted the oscillograph’s polarity in order to receive the oscillograms with the same polarity stated in PhysioKey’s Operating manual).

For both devices we set the maximum energy (250 for SCENAR and 99 for PhysioKey) – see Fig.2. Here we can observe some major differences:

the shape of the first stage (so-called ‘pumping’ – the left half of the screen, circled in red) in case of SCENAR is almost a complete trapeze along the entire stage duration, whereas in case of PhysioKey the trapeze part is less than half of the first stage’s duration (150µs out of 400);
the amplitude of the second stage’s first pulse (first negative impulse headed downwards) is 132V versus 82V – see the results of automatic measurements circled in red on the right oscillogram (hereinafter the amplitude of the first pulse of the second stage is called Amplitude).

fig2

Then we decreased the duration of the first stage by 100µs for both devices (energy of 200 and 84, respectively) – Fig.3.

the shape of ‘pumping’ remained the same for both devices (trapeze for SCENAR and sharply plummeting trapeze for PhysioKey);
the Amplitude is 120V vs 80V, therefore, in case of SCENAR the decrease of energy from 250 to 200 ( i.e., 1/5 of the entire control range ) leads to Amplitude decrease of 12V, but decreasing PhysioKey’s energy by 15/99 (1/7 of the control range) almost doesn’t change the Amplitude!

fig3

Let’s decrease the energy again by 100µs for both devices (to 150 and 67, respectively – Fig.4.).

the shape of ‘pumping’ remained the same for both devices (trapeze for SCENAR and sharply plummeting trapeze for PhysioKey);
the Amplitude is 100V vs 80 V, therefore, in case of SCENAR the decrease of energy by another 1/5 of the control range leads to Amplitude decrease of 20V, whereas decreasing PhysioKey’s energy by 1/6 of the control range has no effect on the Amplitude again!

fig4

Again, let’s decrease the energy for both devices by 100µs (to 100 and 56, respectively – Fig.5.).

the shape of ‘pumping’ for both devices became almost the same (SCENAR has a bit smaller amplitude of ‘pumping’);
the Amplitude is 72V vs 76 V, therefore, in case of SCENAR the decrease of energy by yet another 1/5 of the control range leads to another Amplitude decrease of 28V, when decreasing PhysioKey’s energy by another 1/9 of the control range finally leads to Amplitude decrease of 4V.

fig5

Thus, changing the energy of SCENAR from 250 to 100 (150/250 = 3/5 = 0.6 of the range) changes the Amplitude by (132-72) = 60V or almost in half. For PhysioKey, changing energy from 99 to 56 (43/99 = 0,43 of the range) changes the Amplitude only by 4-6V or 5%! Thus, almost half of the energy regulation range does not change the treatment energy at all, only changing just the shape of ‘pumping’ a little!

Moreover, the manufacturer even shows it by himself in the User’s Manual:

fig6

Thus, I hope I made it obvious that the stimuli shape of SCENAR and PhysioKey are different.

Author of the material: Michael Unakafov.