Joint Pain; Non-Pain-Associated States

Abstract

A clearly defined form of electrical impulses may be determined for over-active or irritated states of the sympathetic nervous system having a blocking action on these nerves. While this same kind of electrical impulses is optimally suited for electric pain control, no such statement is possible for those states where pain is situated in joints. This is mainly due to the difficulty to name a certain nerve being solely responsible for pain conduction. Experience has shown that in these cases a somewhat higher content of DC is needed. What empirically has been seen is difficult to realize because not many sets commercially available will provide such kinds of impulses. Most sets however provide the possibility of increasing the duration of a single impulse by using a very small screw driver through a small hole in the case of the set. It is advised to double the duration of single impulses if no proper impulse having a higher DC-component is provided by the instrument. This doubling relates to the original duration of a single impulse as is customary for use with small diameter fibers (pain conduction and sympathetic nerves). It is best to use instruments where the patient has no possibility to change any characteristics but the intensity of the current. We also prefer instruments supplying the cable connection via a coaxial cable to the electrodes thereby preventing wrong polarity being used by the patient. This would require however a different coaxial cable for other applications than for pain and sympathetic dystrophies, as e.g. for motor effects.