Scrambler Therapy – A Sneak Peek Into Pain-Free Future!

Scrambler therapy, a non-invasive treatment, shows remarkable relief for around 80%–90% of chronic pain patients, potentially surpassing the effectiveness of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) as per a new review paper co-authored by //Johns Hopkins pain experts, published in The New England Journal of Medicine ().

Scrambler therapy, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2009, administers electrical stimulation through the skin via electrodes placed in areas of the body above and below where chronic pain is felt.

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS)
Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is rare chronic pain disorder usually involving an arm or leg. It may follow injury, less commonly after surgery, stroke or heart attack. The cause is unknown

‘Pain experts suggest that scrambler therapy, a noninvasive approach, can bring significant relief to 80%–90% of chronic pain patients, possibly outperforming transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS). # Pain, #Scrambler Therapy, #Chronic Pain ’

Tweet it Now

The goal is to capture the nerve endings and replace signals from the area experiencing pain with signals coming from adjacent areas experiencing no pain, thereby “scrambling” the pain signals sent to the brain, explains the study’s primary author, Thomas Smith, M.D., the Harry J. Duffey Family Professor of Palliative Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and a professor of oncology and medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

All chronic pain and almost all nerve and neuropathic pain result from two things: pain impulses coming from damaged nerves that send a constant barrage up to pain centers in the brain, and the failure of inhibitory cells to block those impulses and prevent them from becoming chronic, says Smith, who also is the director of palliative medicine for Johns Hopkins Medicine.

A Breakthrough in Chronic Pain Relief

“If you can block the ascending pain impulses and enhance the inhibitory system, you can potentially reset the brain so it doesn’t feel chronic pain nearly as badly,” Smith says. “It’s like pressing Control-Alt-Delete about a billion times.”

Many patients “get really substantial relief that can often be permanent,” he says. They receive from three to 12 half-hour sessions.

Myofascial Pain Syndrome - Causes Risk Factors Symptoms Diagnosis Treatment
A patient with myofascial syndrome suffers from pain at trigger points, which is referred to other parts.

As a physician who treats chronic pain, Smith says, “Scrambler therapy is the most exciting development I have seen in years — it’s effective, it’s noninvasive, it reduces opioid use substantially and it can be permanent.”

TENS therapy also administers low-intensity electrical signals through the skin, but it uses a pair of electrodes at the sites of pain. Pain relief often disappears when or soon after the electrical impulses are turned off, Smith says.

Neck Pain - Symptom Evaluation
Neck pain may be due to minor causes like strain and sprain or due to more serious conditions like disc prolapse, cancer or fractures.

A study cited in the review paper evaluated the impact of TENS in 381 randomized clinical trials, and the authors found a nonstatistically significant difference in pain relief between TENS and a placebo procedure.

Reference:

Cutaneous Electroanalgesia for Relief of Chronic and Neuropathic Pain - (https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra2110098)

Source-Eurekalert

Scrambler Therapy &ndash; A Sneak Peek Into Pain-Free Future!

A Breakthrough in Chronic Pain Relief

Scrambler Therapy – A Sneak Peek Into Pain-Free Future!