Prolonged relief of pain by brief, intense transcutaneous somatic
stimulation.
by
Melzack R
From:
Pain, 1: 4, 1975 Dec, 357-73
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of brief, intense
transcutaneous electrical stimulations at trigger points or acupuncture
points on severe clinical pain. The McGill Pain Questionnaire was used
to measure the change in pain quality and intensity produced by
stimulation. The data indicate that the procedure provides a powerful
method for the control of some forms of severe pathological pain. The
average pain decrease during stimulation sessions was 75% for pain due
to peripheral nerve injury, 66% for phantom limb pain, 62% for
shoulder-arm pain, and 60% for low-back pain. The duration of relief
frequently outlasted the period of stimulation by several hours,
occasionally for days or weeks. Different patterns of the amount and
duration of pain relief were observed. Daily stimulation carried out at
home by the patient sometimes provided gradually increasing relief over
periods of weeks or months. Control experiments, which included two
forms of placebo stimulation, showed that brief, intense electrical
stimulation is significantly more effective than placebo contributions.
Possible neural mechanisms that underlie these patterns of pain relief
by brief, intense stimulation are discussed.