Transdermal Stimulation

Abstract

Designated as “transdermal stimulation”, the application of an electric current through the skin for purposes of pain relief has recently gained much attention. Actually the various forms of electrotherapy are a domain of physical medicine and rehabilitation. They obtained increasing interest mainly from neurosurgeons since new pain theories were proposed (Melzack and Wall, 1965) and resulted in surgical implantation of peripheral nerve (Meyer and Fields, 1972) or dorsal column (Shealy, 1969) stimulators. The selection of patients for these procedures as an effective means of pain therapy, however, was found to be rather difficult. For purposes of prognosis, stimulation from the skin seemed a proper method of selection. So it was recognized that transdermal stimulation seemed to provide a rationale for pain relief by itself. But pain has no objective criteria by which to judge the effectiveness of a particular current or way of application in a given subject.