What do we know about electricity and the body?
Are electrical modalities validated by science?
Humans have been utilizing electrical stimulation for thousands of years BC! It is said to have originated with the Egyptians, then later the Romans and Greeks, who figured out that some fish have electrical properties and they began utilizing these electrical shocks to treat pain. (1) They utilized electrical shocks to treat a wide variety of disorders from gout to headaches!
What do we know about electricity and the body?
The average neuron has a resting membrane potential of around 70 millivolts. This means that the human body naturally produces electricity and has the capacity to make more. The brain utilizes about 20% of this energy for its regular activities. There are different kinds of electrical stimulation that can be placed at various points and require different levels of voltage to activate specific targets.
Are electrical modalities validated by science?
The short answer is YES! These three articles are just a few papers of the mountain of evidence that grows larger each day supporting electrical modalities.
A research study published yesterday in the Journal of Neuroscience gives great insight into how targeted electrical stimulation can modulate neuroplasticity (the brain’s ability to adapt and change). (2)
Another article published in Nature Neuroscience “Working Memory Revived in Older Adults by Synchronizing Rhythmic Brain Circuits” provides electrical applications to improve cognitive function, in addition to psychiatric illnesses, seizures and other neurological disorders. (3)
Yet another article titled “Migraine Prevention with a Supraorbital Transcutaneous Stimulator” suggests that applying electrical stimulation to specific regions of the face have the potential to reduce headache days per month as well as reduce medication necessity in Migraine patients (4).
To all of the migraineurs out there, you know you only get so many abortive medications per month. Once you’ve run out, that’s it. One of the most profound things to hear from headache patients is that they have a surplus of their abortive medications because they haven’t needed to use them!
If you are suffering and haven’t tried specific, targeted electrical stimulation as part of your neurological care, head over to our contact page to book a free consultation with our doctors to discuss your options.
Our doctors only care about two things: figuring out whats going on and how to get you better.
References:
- Heidland, August, et al. “Neuromuscular Electrostimulation Techniques: Historical Aspects and Current Possibilities in Treatment of Pain and Muscle Waisting.” Clinical Nephrology, 2012, doi:10.5414/cnx77s106.
- Huang, Yuhao, et al. “Intracortical Dynamics Underlying Repetitive Stimulation Predicts Changes in Network Connectivity.” The Journal of Neuroscience, 2019, pp. 0535–19., doi:10.1523/jneurosci.0535-19.2019.
- Reinhart, Robert M. G., and John A. Nguyen. “Working Memory Revived in Older Adults by Synchronizing Rhythmic Brain Circuits.” Nature Neuroscience, vol. 22, no. 5, 2019, pp. 820–827., doi:10.1038/s41593-019-0371-x.
- Schoenen, J., et al. “Migraine Prevention with a Supraorbital Transcutaneous Stimulator: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” Neurology, vol. 80, no. 8, 2013, pp. 697–704., doi:10.1212/wnl.0b013e3182825055.
