Repetitive peripheral magnetic stimulation to reduce pain or improve sensorimotor impairments: A literature review on parameters of application and afferents recruitment

Abstract

Repetitive peripheral magnetic stimulation (rPMS over spinal root, nerve or muscle belly) is a promising technology in physiopathology research. As compared to electrical stimulation, rPMS is deemed to activate deep conductive structures and produce strong muscle contractions and massive proprioceptive afferents with minimal cutaneous recruitment. RPMS may thus act differently on neural plasticity involved in pain reduction and motor recovery in musculoskeletal or neurological conditions. However, literature is very scant and still controversial concerning afferents recruited by rPMS, thus no consensus is reached yet for its clinical use. This review dealt with stimulation parameters reported in any scientific research that applied rPMS as an intervention to improve somatosensory or motor disorders with a view of proposing recommendations for future applications. Also, controversy on afferents recruitment was discussed. The literature search resulted in 24 studies. Literature is scant on the topic but our review presents the rationale and the experimental data that may underlie the selection of parameters in future studies using rPMS as an intervention. Although controversy remains, the review presents that the specific recruitment of sensory afferents by magnetic stimulation may offer advantages and disadvantages depending on the pathology. The review proposed recommendations to improve rPMS application in clinical research. However, the development of guidelines still requires methodological and clinical studies enrolling larger samples and with randomized sham-controlled designs.