What is the role of electrical stimulation in pain management?

Electrical stimulation of various levels of the nervous system can produce analgesic effects through the interaction mechanism of the endogenous neuromodulatory system. This technique of electrical stimulation for analgesia is based on the doctrine of gate control of pain and the principle of acupuncture anesthesia in China, and the method has the advantages of reducing the patient’s dependence on anesthetic drugs and avoiding the sequelae of injurious surgery. (1) Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS therapy), a method of relieving pain by stimulating the pain-causing nerve with a low-voltage current through double electrodes placed on the skin in the corresponding part of the body using an electrical pulse wave stimulator. (2) Transcutaneous acupoint electrical stimulation therapy (SPP therapy) is a treatment method to improve pain threshold and relieve pain by stimulating the corresponding subcutaneous acupoints with specific pulses through the skin by cone-shaped metal electrodes. (3) Epidural gap electrical stimulation therapy, in which miniature electrodes are placed in the epidural gap for cremaster electrical stimulation to suppress the patient’s nociception. The recently invented persistent wireless epidural gap energized buried device can be applied to chronic pain treatment.