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From Medien Wiki

Can electrical impulses reduce physical pain?

There is another type of pain called "neuropathic pain". This pain is not related to a physical injury but to a dysfunction of the pain system. It is a lesion of the channels of transmission of painful messages. It is, for example, the lesion of a nerve during trauma. These neuropathic lesions are highly resistant to medicines and conventional treatments.

In recent years, pain specialists have developed a technique for electrical stimulation of the nervous system. The principle is to place an electrode in a strategic place for transmitting painful messages. This electrode will send an electrical pulse that will blur the pain message.

For example, when a nerve has been damaged as a result of repeated treatments of a herniated disc, it is possible to place an electrode at the level of the marrow which will have the aim of reducing or even eliminating pain.

This technique is indicated for very severe pain and when conventional treatments have little effect.

In conventional transcutaneous neurostimulation, a low-voltage electrical current is typically used, with an intensity ranging from 10 mA (milliampères) to 30 mA. The pulse frequency ranges from 40 Hz to 150 Hz (Hertz – pulse per second).