TENS MACHINE for Parkinson's (electric muscle stimulation)
ABSTRACT
Parkinson’s disease is a chronic degenerative and progressive pathology characterized by degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra, pars compact. It is present in 1% of population over 55 years of age and it‘s triad encompasses tremor, bradkinesia and rigidity. Until now the treatment of choice has been pharmacological based primarily on Levodopa. However international treatment offers promising results. The present work explores the possibility of using peripheral electrical stimulation along with medication management of tremor for this pathology.
Material and methods: we included 24 patients all of whom were evaluated and their degree of tremor measured using an accelerometer (Stressometer ADTM 60). Afterwards all patients were included in one group that received 10 session of electrical stimulation using a tens device, utilizing an anti-emetic technique over the Neiguan (P6) acupuncture point. Every patient continued with his medications without modifications during the course of the study.
Results: one patient was eliminated for low attendance. Of the 23 remaining patients, diminished tremor was observed in 18 of them (78.26%), the amount of improvement based on the difference between the initial and the final assessment had a mean of 26.31%.
Discussion: the present study supports Dodder et al’s proposal implicating the serotonin pathways of the Rafe nuclei in parkinsonian tremor. In relation to Britton et al’s report, we can’t make a direct correlation, because the site of stimulation, intensity of the stimulus and measuring device were different.
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