[chris (OP)]

Roberta has written to me to ask this:

I have a rod, cages and screws in my back and I seem to feel static electricity stronger than I use to? Would this make a difference ? I also pick up radio stations in my head?

What do you all think?

[chris (OP)]

I find it very unlikely that spinal instrumentation will make you more sensitive to static or enable you to pick up radio stations in your head; the information being broadcast by a radio station is analogue and digitally encoded electromagnetic energy; metalwork in the spine would not interpret that energy and present it to your nervous system meaningfully...

[RD]

I have a rod, cages and screws in my back and I seem to feel static electricity stronger than I use to? Would this make a difference ? I also pick up radio stations in my head?

If a serious accident damaged your spine, it could also have also injured your brain, (no sarcasm intended).

Brain injuries could cause focal-seizures, which can be like static-electricity,  and can include hallucinations, including auditory ones.

[ If you are on strong pain-medication because of your injuries, that's another possible explanation for the "radio" hallucinations ].

Injuries to the spine could also produce electric sensations , which could be mistaken for static-electricity.

Under the circumstances, seeing a neurologist seems a good idea.

[Colin2B]

the information being broadcast by a radio station is analogue and digitally encoded electromagnetic energy; metalwork in the spine would not interpret that energy and present it to your nervous system meaningfully...

With FM and DAB that is true, but AM signals are more easily decoded. The old crystal set uses a diode to rectify and hence demodulate the signal. You can get the same effect with a semiconducting layer formed by oxide.  My father was in Italy during the war and showed me how the troops made crystal sets using razor blade and pencil, it worked just as well as any diode, just a bit sensitive to vibration.
If a length of metal is of the right length to act as an antenna and contacts between joints, nuts, bolts etc formed a diode then the signal could be received. Not sure how it would be conveyed to the brain though, or whether it could be 'heard' as sound. You might get a vibration in the metalwork.

[chris (OP)]

Thanks to Colin and RD (above).

I was going to add that perhaps the injury / damage to the spine has led to some nerve compression, which is mimicking the effects of static electrical sensations. Pressure on nerve roots can produce sensations akin to electrical shocks and tingling feelings, which you may be interpreting as static.

What was the nature of the injury, and when did it happen? Are these symptoms new , or long standing, and do they coincide with the original back injury or any other trauma?

Meanwhile, thanks, Colin, for the insights into AM radio - I had no idea you could do that!

[alancalverd]

Worth checking the radio reception phenomenon. It is not unheard of in the vicinity of powerful long- and medium-wave transmitters, with dental fillings acting as rectifiers. If you have a dominant station, a "reality check" will be station ident music or news speech on the hour - usually midday and 6 pm local time anywhere.

Static charge will give you a single shock, usually in a finger, when discharged to an earthed conductor like a water pipe. It will affect either hand. Continuous tingling, especially if confined to or more pronounced on one side, is almost certainly nerve damage or compression.   

[Colin2B]

I assume most medical metalwork is titanium. Interestingly titanium oxide is an N type semiconductor.
Are other metals used ?

[chris (OP)]

Titanium is the preferred option. It's non-toxic, tough and non-magnetic.

[RD]

... It is not unheard of in the vicinity of powerful long- and medium-wave transmitters, with dental fillings acting as rectifiers ...

The comedienne Lucille Ball said that on TV, but she could have been confusing reality with a movie script ... http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/fillings.asp

If that was possible, why don't people detect mains-hum via their metal fillings ?, which, when indoors, is a much stronger alternating electric-field than TV or radio transmissions.

[Colin2B]

If that was possible, why don't people detect mains-hum via their metal fillings ?, which, when indoors, is a much stronger alternating electric-field than TV or radio transmissions.

Resonant frequency of the filling?

[RD]

If that was possible, why don't people detect mains-hum via their metal fillings ?, which, when indoors, is a much stronger alternating electric-field than TV or radio transmissions.

Resonant frequency of the filling?

You hypothesized a possible mechanism like a crystal radio.
To achieve resonance in a crystal radio, the windings in the coils (and the antenna) are meters long ...



The dimensions of a tooth filling isn't even a thousandth of that , so resonance seems implausible.