A PEMF contoured triangular transducer system (FIGS. 1a-1b) used for PEMF therapy (such as after spinal fusion) uses a two-transducer configuration for generating fluxaided electromagnetic fields. The semi-rigid transducers (12, 14) are conformable to a selected anatomical contour, and incorporated with an adjustable belt (16) to provide bracing. The belt includes compartments for a drive electronics module (22), and a rechargeable battery pack (24), making the system portable. The drive electronics (FIG. 3) includes a PEMF processor (41) that executes a PEMF program for providing pulsing current to the front and back transducers at predetermined intervals, thereby activating the electromagnetic field according to a prescribed PEMF regimen.

Magnetic stimulator coils having a definable region wherein magnetic field intensity is greater than at other regions of the coil are disclosed. The definable region is formed by one or more corners in a coil and/or by a higher concentration of windings in one region of the coil. Because the magnetic field produced at the definable region of the windings is higher than at other regions, the location where stimulation is to occur is better defined when the definable region of a coil formed in accordance with the invention is suitably positioned on the skin of a patient and energized by a suitable power source. Preferably, the windings are splayed because splayed winding stimulator coils are more efficient than concentrated winding stimulator coils. Efficiency is better because magnetic field intensity is reduced where windings are splayed due to a reduction in mutual inductance. A less intense magnetic field results in the need for less power to create the desired magnetic field in the region where the windings are more concentrated.

The invention contemplates an improved strap or bandage mounting of a socket element for removably engaged coupling of an ultrasonic transducer element to an afflicted limb. In a preferred embodiment, a radially flanged annular socket element is formed with outward lugs at axial offset from the flange, for preliminary assembly to a length of bandage material which has been cut to provide an opening for registration with the bore of the socket element, with the flange surrounding the opening and against one side of the bandage, while the outward lugs engage the other side of the bandage and also assure the desired registration. A softly compliant pad having a similar opening is removably securable to the flange-mounted side of the bandage to hold registration of the same central opening for all components and to afford direct access to an afflicted body-limb region through the central opening, when the thus-assembled bandage has been wrapped around the limb to securely position the socket element for reception of the transducer of a treatment head. Bayonet-locking lug formations on or near the transducer part of the head coact with lug formations on the socket element to retain the transducer during treatment of an afflicted bone through gel-coupled flesh at the situs of injury.

A quasistatic biological cell and tissue modifier is provided that presents a controlled electromagnetic environment which produces beneficial effects in biological material. The electromagnetic environment consists of a static magnetic field and a time-varying field. The static magnetic field potentiates the effect of the time-varying magnetic field and further modulates the amplitude at which the time-varying field is biologically active. The static field is provided by a permanent magnet or through electromagnetic means. In one embodiment the coil that produces the time-varying field is a single coplanar helical coil. In another embodiment it is a plurality of coplanar helical coil segments connected in parallel. In these two embodiments the coil is a flexible printed circuit that can be contoured around an organ. The static magnetic component is provided by a flexible permanent magnet or by the net bias of the time-varying field itself. A third embodiment with two small rigid coils uses a clamp to attach the coils to a patient's ear or other part of the body.

An apparatus and method for regulating the growth of living tissue are provided. The apparatus includes a deformable magnetic field generator and a magnetic field detector for producing a controlled, fluctuating, directionally oriented magnetic field parallel to a predetermined axis projecting through the target tissue. The deformable magnetic field generator includes a pair of field coils embedded in a flexible material which allows the field coils to be plastically deformed to fit the contour of a body region such as a patient's limb. The field detector samples the magnetic flux density along the predetermined access and provides a signal to a microprocessor which determines the average value of the flux density. The applied magnetic field is oscillated at predetermined frequencies to maintain a preselected ratio of frequency to average flux density. This ratio is maintained by adjusting the frequency of the fluctuating magnetic field and/or by adjusting the intensity of the applied magnetic field as the composite magnetic flux density changes in response to changes in the local magnetic field to which the target tissue is subjected. By maintaining these precise predetermined ratios of frequency to average magnetic flux density, growth characteristics of the target tissue are controlled.