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Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation in Relieving Neuropathic Pain: Basic Mechanisms and Clinical Applications

  • Other Pain (AD Kaye and N Vadivelu, Section Editors)
  • Published:
Current Pain and Headache Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is widely used as a non-pharmacological approach for pain relief in a variety of clinical conditions. This manuscript aimed to review the basic mechanisms and clinical applications regarding the use of TENS for alleviating the peripheral (PNP) and central neuropathic pain (CNP).

Recent Findings

Basic studies on animal models showed that TENS could alleviate pain by modulating neurotransmitters and receptors in the stimulation site and its upper levels, including the spinal cord, brainstem, and brain. Besides, many clinical studies have investigated the efficacy of TENS in patients with CNP (caused by spinal cord injury, stroke, or multiple sclerosis) and PNP (induced by diabetes, cancer, or herpes zoster). Most clinical trials have demonstrated the efficacy of TENS in attenuating neuropathic pain and suggested that appropriate stimulation parameters (e.g., stimulation frequency and intensity) were critical to improving the analgesic effects of TENS. However, there are some conflicting findings related to the efficacy of TENS in relieving neuropathic pain.

Summary

With optimized stimulation parameters, TENS would be effective in attenuating neuropathic pain. To obtain sufficient evidence to support the use of TENS in the clinic, researchers recommended performing multicenter clinical trials with optimized TENS protocols for the treatment of various CNP and PNP.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31671141, 31822025, 31800926), the 13th Five-year Informatization Plan of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. XXH13506), the Project funded by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2018M640191), the Scientific Foundation of Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. Y6CX021008, Y8CX351005), and CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology (No. KLMH2018ZG01).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Tahmineh Mokhtari, Qiaoyue Ren, Yanzhi Bi & Li Hu

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Tahmineh Mokhtari, Qiaoyue Ren, Yanzhi Bi & Li Hu

  3. Radio Research Agency, Liaoning Institute of Metrology, Shenyang, China

    Nuo Li

  4. Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Wenzhou Vocational & Technical College, Wenzhou, China

    Faguang Wang

  5. Department of Pain Management, The State Key Clinical Specialty in Pain Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China

    Li Hu

Authors
  1. Tahmineh Mokhtari
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  2. Qiaoyue Ren
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  3. Nuo Li
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  4. Faguang Wang
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  5. Yanzhi Bi
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  6. Li Hu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yanzhi Bi.

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Tahmineh Mokhtari, Qiaoyue Ren, Nuo Li, Faguang Wang, Yanzhi Bi, and Li Hu declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Other Pain

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Mokhtari, T., Ren, Q., Li, N. et al. Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation in Relieving Neuropathic Pain: Basic Mechanisms and Clinical Applications. Curr Pain Headache Rep 24, 14 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-020-0846-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-020-0846-1

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