Language
Country/Area
No result found
Ancient Electrical Stimulation: How Did People Relieve Pain in Roman Era?
In today's medical technology, there are many methods of pain relief, but one of the earliest treatments can be traced back to Roman times more than 2,000 years ago. At that time, medical scientists in ancient Rome discovered that electric fish could produce weak electric currents and provide people with pain relief in surprising ways. This initial electrical stimulation therapy developed over time into what is now known as transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) therapy.
In AD 63, physician Scribonius Largus reported that standing on an electric fish could relieve pain.
The TENS device uses electrical current to stimulate nerves, allowing patients to reduce acute and chronic pain without the need for drugs. According to reports, TENS can effectively relieve pain by increasing the levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid and glycine and inhibiting the activation of glial cells. However, the research results on its efficacy are still controversial, and many systematic reviews and meta-analyses point out that the lack of high-quality and unbiased evidence makes the effect of TENS application in certain sources of pain unclear.
Medical purposes
Pain Management
TENS is often used to relieve a variety of pain, especially acute and chronic pain. Stable clinical evidence suggests that the use of TENS may provide advantages over separate placebo in patients with acute pain following surgery or trauma. However, many studies have not reached a unanimous consensus on the efficacy of chronic pain, such as musculoskeletal pain.
Sufficient stimulation intensity is the basic condition required to achieve pain relief using TENS.
Further research suggests that for certain patients with chronic pain, such as those with knee osteoarthritis, TENS may be safer and more effective than lower-potency opioids.
Other indications
The applications of TENS therapy also include the treatment of neuropathy and phantom limb pain, but the results so far are still limited. Recent research has found that TENS may help increase the regulation of pain signals, which has further promoted the development of this technology in other areas, such as the management of labor pain and menstrual pain.
TENS has been proven to have a significant relief effect on pregnant women during delivery.
In terms of cancer pain, although patients still urgently need non-drug treatment options, the existing literature fails to clarify the effectiveness of TENS. Overall, TENS has been explored in various clinical settings through different modes of administration, but the results of many clinical trials still cannot be generalized to all patients due to the variability of their efficacy.
The history of electrical stimulation
There is a thousand-year heritage between ancient Roman pain relief technology and modern TENS. The basic principles of TENS originate from the ancient practice of electrical stimulation, and its history from the 16th to 18th centuries, from various electrostatic devices to portable devices in the 1970s, is not only an evolution of medical technology, but also an evolution of electronics. Medical exploration.
The earliest portable TENS device was patented in the United States in 1974 and was mainly used to assess the tolerance of chronic pain patients to electrical stimulation.
With the advancement of technology, modern TENS devices allow users to independently adjust pulse width, frequency and stimulation intensity, allowing patients to obtain the best pain relief within a safe range. What’s amazing is that this technology is still evolving and updating today. From early fixed layouts to today’s portable devices, the boundaries of electrical stimulation therapy are constantly expanding.
Future Outlook
In the current medical environment, the need for pain management continues to grow. However, today, the use of TENS is still limited by some contraindications, especially in patients with certain implanted electronic medical devices. Despite this, TENS, as a relatively safe and accessible non-drug therapy, remains an important option for many patients with chronic pain.
In the process of exploring pain relief, will people revisit ancient wisdom and integrate modern technology to make future medical care more humane?
