We use red and black for positive and negative wires.
It doesn't help that previous Hidrex models were supplied with colourcoded cables.
The control panels on the iontophoresis machine have different colors on them.In addition to this, the electrode plates supplied on these models were also colourcoded so it is little wonder people felt it was an important part of their iontophoresis treatment.
You could plug in the corresponding cables and see which side of the body was being treated with the positive and negative sides.The better response rate at the positive side was thought to be due to knowing this information.If you only ever treat one side of the body with the positive side, you may find that the other side gains better results sooner.
In these instances, and for these machines, it was recommended to swap sides so that you can even up the responses and the general advice was to alternate which side was treated by the positive red or negative black side.The evidence was anecdotal and not clinically proven, so there wasn't much emphasis on this switch action at that time.
The current versions of Hidrex Iontophoresis machines do not have cables or ports.
Recent studies have shown that the red positive anode side will respond better than the negative side on modern machines.
The current versions of Hidrex Iontophoresis machines do not have cables or ports.The more advanced Hidrex ClassicION Iontophoresis device has an automatic polarity switch which will switch direction halfway through your treatment.If you only treat one side, the direction of current flow has very little impact on treatment.
The Hidrex ClassicION does not have an auto-polarity switch.If you want to alternate which side of the body is being treated, please switch which foot or hand is on that side.If you left your foot in the trays with the (+) side on your next treatment day, swap it for the right foot side.
The ClassicION control panel has two ports labeled A and B.Port A is positive and port B is negative.
A diagram showing the ports can be found on page 9 of the instruction manual.
The Hidrex ConnectION has a new setting that can alternate the polarity during treatments.The current travels through the body if it is altered.
You can switch the feature on or off by depressing the control buttons.The machines will be put into polarity set up mode and you can choose whether or not to turn on or off auto polarity on the screen.
When the feature is on, the machine will power down half way through your treatment and then come back up to your set power level.Patients should be connected to the iontophoresis machine while in the trays.From this mid-way treatment point, treatment will resume as usual.