An effective way to treat chronic pain has been named
Scrambling pain signals from healthy nerves can permanently alleviate chronic diseases.Chronic pain is more common than other long-term conditions such as depression and diabetes.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine believe that scrambling is the most appropriate non-invasive treatment for chronic pain. Scrambler technology (Calmare Pain Therapy Treatment) is a non-invasive therapy that treats neuropathic and chronic pain with surface electrical stimulation. Electrode patches are precisely placed on the appropriate area of skin, but not directly on the painful area. Essentially, the electrode patches are placed on one or more dermatomes. A dermatome is an area of skin from which all sensory nerves are directed to the same spinal nerve root.
Researchers reviewed 381 randomized clinical trials. They found that scrambler therapy, which delivers electrical stimulation using electrodes to areas surrounding the source of chronic pain, significantly relieved pain in 80-90% of patients.
The therapy has also been found to be more effective than percutaneous electroneurostimulation (PENS). This is a physiotherapeutic neurorehabilitation method based on the application of electric current. ChENS similarly uses electrical stimulation, but directs currents to pain nerves.
Scrambler therapy aims to capture the nerve endings of damaged nerves, as well as the source of pain, and replace pain signals with signals from neighboring nerves. Eventually, this method can block communication from the damaged nerves to the brain.
With a few half-hour sessions, patients experienced "significant relief that may become permanent," the study authors said.
They hope to conduct more research on the benefits of scrambler therapy, which was approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration in 2009.
The study is published in The New England Journal of Medicine.