In many cases of spinal cord dysfunction such as spinal cord injury and cervical spondylotic myelopathy, numbness expressed as tingling, tingling, and tingling occurs.This time, researchers from Nagasaki University and Kio University have developed "Numbness Synchronized TENS" as a new rehabilitation intervention for this feeling of numbness, and announced that the patient's numbness was significantly improved by TENS.
Numbness is defined as ``spontaneous dysesthesia caused by impairment of sensory nerve conduction pathways,'' and while ADL and QOL are significantly impaired, there are still no effective drug treatments or rehabilitation, and numbness can be improved. Currently, no therapeutic intervention has been established for this purpose.
In contrast, the researchers discovered a new form of intervention using transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS).Nine patients with spinal cord dysfunction were asked to participate in the study. Synchronized TENS”.Pain and sensation were assessed before and during numbness-enhancing TENS to verify immediate effects.
As a result, many patients had the impression that ``the numbness and the sensation of electric current due to TENS canceled each other out, and both disappeared'', and a marked improvement in numbness was observed immediately by numbness-synchronized TENS.In addition, not only numbness but also sensory disturbance and allodynia (a symptom that hurts just by touching) improved.
It is said that the phenomenon in which the sensation of TENS is weakened along with the feeling of numbness cannot be explained by the theories of TENS so far, and the researchers speculate that the sensation of numbness may be improved by a new mechanism. there is
Numbness-synchronized TENS shows an effect on numbness that has been difficult to treat, and is expected to expand the intervention area of rehabilitation.Furthermore, in the future, we will work on verifying the long-term effects of numbness-synchronized TENS and clarifying the mechanism of action.
