Does the positioning of the red and black leads on the body make a difference?
It is generally thought to make a difference. Most practitioners place the red leads proximal (closer to the torso) and the black leads distal (away from the torso) on the extremities. One acupuncturist said that he “places the black lead on the lower part of the body because the earth is ground, and the black lead is similar to ground, and the foot is on the ground.” A more scientific view of this still needs study. Is more electrical current carried from the red lead to the black lead, or from black to red? Each brand of electro-acupuncture stimulator has a different waveform, and the optimal waveform is not yet known. It has been observed that during the positive half of the waveform, the current flows from the black to the red lead, and during the negative half of the waveform, the current flows from the red to the black lead. If the waveform is truly symmetrical biphasic with positive and negative portions of the waveform equal in size, there should be no net DC (direct current) f
