Transcutaneous nerve stimulation has become a popular and widely accepted method for controlling patients' pain. Although it is now frequently used in physical therapy departments, the physiological mechanism whereby it brings about its results is poorly understood. It was hypothesised that the application of TNS to naive normally healthy (n= 12) students would produce a reduction in the sensory nerve conduction velocity of the median nerve. This proved to be so (p =. 003), but unexpectedly one subject reported a feeling of coolness in the exposed hand. Subsequent analysis of cutaneous skin temperature showed a statistically significant reduction (p <. 001). Correlation coefficients showed higher correlations between the temperature-temperature and velocity-velocity changes than those between temperature-velocity. One deduced that the reduction in nerve conduction was therefore primarily the result of the TNS, although further study of this topic is planned.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Walmsley et al. (1986) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: