Nociceptor

What's a TENS machine? Can it help my period pain or endometriosis?

Retrieved on: 
Monday, June 12, 2023

If you’ve been on social media recently you might have noticed sponsored posts and ads for a variety of small, portable electrical devices.

Key Points: 
  • If you’ve been on social media recently you might have noticed sponsored posts and ads for a variety of small, portable electrical devices.
  • These claim to manage period or endometriosis pain safely and without drugs.
  • Most devices have a small box that generates an electrical pulse, and wires connected to sticky pads, which go on your tummy.

They’re mini TENS machines

    • These devices use “transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation”, better known as TENS.
    • TENS machines are not new.
    • Half of people with period pain say over-the-counter medication such as ibuprofen doesn’t get rid of their period pain.

How might TENS work?

    • These pulses are transmitted through the surface of the skin via the sticky pads.
    • So for period pain that’s usually at or below the level of the belly button but above the pubic region.

Here’s what we know so far

    • First, we need to first talk about different types of nerves.
    • Nociceptors are nerves that send “danger” impulses about actual or potential tissue damage.
    • The gate control theory of pain says the spinal cord has “gates” that can be open or closed.
    • TENS machines, especially at high frequency (greater than 50 pulses per second), tend to stimulate sensory nerves (the ones in your skin).

So does TENS work?

    • There was a significant reduction in period pain when high-frequency TENS (more than 50 pulses per second) was compared to sham TENS (where the machine looks the same but doesn’t deliver a pulse).
    • There is only one study of TENS for pelvic pain due to endometriosis.
    • So we need larger studies with a proper control group before we can be sure if TENS works for endometriosis pain.

Is it safe?


    Most studies report no side effects when the pads are used on the abdomen or lower spine. However, if you turn up the intensity too high it can be uncomfortable. You could also get a rash from the adhesive on the pads.

    Read more:
    First periods can come as a shock. 5 ways to support your kid when they get theirs

Which one to buy?

    • If you are going to use the device occasionally (less than 4-5 days per month) you may just need a device that allows you to change the intensity.
    • To get the best relief, the machine should be turned up high enough so it delivers noticeable pulses, but is not painful.
    • For period pain, high frequency (more than 50 pulses per second) shows better results than low frequency (usually 2-5 pulses per second).
    • So make sure the device you’re thinking of buying is either set to a high frequency or you can change the frequency.

Turning down the volume of pain – how to retrain your brain when you get sensitised

Retrieved on: 
Monday, April 17, 2023

When faced with possible threats, the feeling of pain develops in a split second and can help us to “detect and protect”.

Key Points: 
  • When faced with possible threats, the feeling of pain develops in a split second and can help us to “detect and protect”.
  • Sensitisation can contribute to chronic pain conditions like fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, migraine or low back pain.
  • But it might be possible to retrain our brains to manage or even reduce pain.

‘Danger!’

    • We can think of these like a microphones transmitting the word “danger” through wires (nerves and the spinal cord) up to a speaker (the brain).
    • If you sprain your ankle, a range of tiny chemical reactions start there.
    • When sensitisation happens in a sore body part, it’s like more microphones join in over a period of weeks or months.
    • Then, in the spinal cord, chemical reactions and the number of receptors there also adapt to this new demand.

Neuroplasticity

    • Neuroplasticity is when the brain changes in response to experiences, good or bad.
    • Pain science research suggests we may be able to retrain ourselves to improve wellbeing and take advantage of neuroplasticity.
    • There are some promising approaches that target the mechanisms behind sensitisation and aim to reverse them.
    • This technique uses mental and physical exercises like identifying left and right limbs, imagery and mirror box therapy.

But don’t go it alone

    • In Australia, a range of multidisciplinary pain clinics offer physical therapies like exercise, psychological therapies like mindfulness and cognitive behavioural therapy.
    • Experts can also help you make lifestyle changes to improve sleep and diet to manage and reduce pain.
    • Resources, such as children’s books, videos, and board games, are being developed and tested to improve consumer and community understanding.

High-frequency Electrical Stimulation Helps Reduce Inflammation, Pain in New Feinstein Institutes Study

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, October 5, 2022

And while pain is an important defense mechanism to protect the body and promote healing, chronic pain can be debilitating.

Key Points: 
  • And while pain is an important defense mechanism to protect the body and promote healing, chronic pain can be debilitating.
  • The research, led by Feinstein Institutes Sangeeta Chavan, PhD , showed in preclinical mice models that HFES inhibits neuroinflammatory mediator release by sensory neurons, called nociceptors, to reduce pain.
  • For your body to feel pain, neurons release molecules that kickstart the bodys immune response causing inflammation and pain.
  • We now have a better understanding as to why high-frequency stimulation helps attenuate inflammation and associated pain.

Nocion Therapeutics Announces Dosing Underway in Participants with Chronic Cough

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Nocions first-in-class proprietary molecule is being developed as a treatment for cough indications including Chronic Cough.

Key Points: 
  • Nocions first-in-class proprietary molecule is being developed as a treatment for cough indications including Chronic Cough.
  • The ongoing Phase 2a trial is a two-part study being conducted first in participants with Chronic Cough and then in participants with Acute Cough, including postinfectious cough following COVID-19.
  • Chronic Cough is cough lasting more than eight weeks and is associated with significant, debilitating physical, social and psychosocial impact.
  • This broad mechanism has shown significant antitussive effects in preclinical models of cough, superior to that of P2X3 antagonists, and forms the basis for its use in cough indications beyond Chronic Cough.

Feinstein Institutes Bioelectronic Medicine Researchers Control Nerve to Turn On/Off Inflammation

Retrieved on: 
Friday, August 13, 2021

In an effort to better understand inflammation within the body, researchers at The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research the global scientific home of bioelectronic medicine successfully controlled the neurons that release molecular proteins and turn on/off inflammation.

Key Points: 
  • In an effort to better understand inflammation within the body, researchers at The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research the global scientific home of bioelectronic medicine successfully controlled the neurons that release molecular proteins and turn on/off inflammation.
  • View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210813005251/en/
    Sangeeta S. Chavan, PhD, professor in the Institute of Bioelectronic Medicine at the Feinstein Institutes.
  • Using light or genetic tools, we can turn off and on the switch that controls inflammation in the body, said Sangeeta S. Chavan, PhD , professor in the Institute of Bioelectronic Medicine at the Feinstein Institutes .
  • Home to 50 research labs, 3,000 clinical research studies and 5,000 researchers and staff, the Feinstein Institutes raises the standard of medical innovation through its five institutes of behavioral science, bioelectronic medicine, cancer, health innovations and outcomes, and molecular medicine.