J Korean Pain Soc.  2001 Jun;14(1):19-25.

The Effects of High-frequency, Non-noxious TENS on RIII Nociceptive Flexion Reflex and Temporal Summation in Human Subjects

• Kim YI
• Lee JW
• Kim JS
• Chung JH
• Park W

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) has been used widely, but its effects are controversial. This is probably due to the varying intensity and type of pain. We designed a study to assess the effects of the TENS on the RIII nociceptive flexion reflex as the resting pain level and the temporal summation as a repeated, movement related pain in 7 normal volunteer subjects.
METHODS
High frequency (80 Hz), non-noxious TENS was applied over the left popliteal fossa for 20 minutes. Ipsilateral RIII reflexes induced by single electrical stimulus and temporal summation of pain responses to repeated stimuli (five stimuli at 2 Hz) were recorded before, during (just before stopping), and subsequently at 20 minutes after TENS.
RESULTS
R (III) nociceptive flexion reflex activity during and after TENS was more significantly decreased than before treatment. However, the temporal summation threshold was not changed.
CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that high frequency, non-noxious TENS could be effective on resting pain relief in the same segment but not on the movement related pain.

Keyword

Measurement; R (III) nociceptive flexion reflex; Temporal summation; TENS

MeSH Terms

Healthy Volunteers
Humans*
Reflex*
Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation*