In this issue, Moliadze and colleagues investigate the role of electrode montage in the induction of acute lasting excitability changes by transcranial Direction Current Stimulation (tDCS) and transcranial Random Noise Stimulation (tRNS); specifically they demonstrate that during weak transcranial electrical stimulation, the position of the ‘‘return” electrode affects neuro-modulation under the...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE After stroke, many individuals have chronic unilateral motor dysfunction in the upper extremity that severely limits their functional movement control. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of electromyography-triggered neuromuscular electrical stimulation on the wrist and finger extension muscles in individuals who had a stroke > or = 1 year earlier. ME...

This article reviews the use of electrotherapy for pain relief. Authors present the basis of the successfull electrotherapy to treat many types of pain. In addition, the article described neurophysiological and neurochemical mechanisms by which non-pharmacological methods like: direct current stimulation (DCS), microcurrent electrical therapy (MET), transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (...

We have previously shown that capacitively coupled electrical stimulation of either normal bovine articular chondrocytes or osteoarthritic human articular cartilage explants resulted in up-regulation of cartilage matrix gene expression and down-regulation of metalloproteinase gene expression. In addition, collagen and proteoglycan protein levels were also elevated. To determine visually the eff...

Asif Rahman, Davide Reato, Abhishek Datta, Lucas Parra, Marom Bikson (CUNY) Synaptic pathway and orientation specific modulation of neuronal excitability by weak direct current Transcranial direct current stimulation, a clinical technique explored for noninvasive neuromodulation, is thought to induce polarity-specific lasting change in cortical excitability. However, the mechanisms of DC stimul...

A 19-year-old male patient presented with facial hemi-atrophy with unilateral spasms of the masseter and temporalis muscles. Ultrasound therapy and Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation therapy, known as combination therapy, were given on alternate days for 2 weeks. At the end of 2 weeks of combination therapy the patient reported a drastic reduction in the number of episodes of muscle spas...

Results are presented on the optimization of the electric field distribution obtained during Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) for deep neuron stimulation by using the Continuum Design Sensitivity Analysis (CDSA) combined with a commercially available generalized finite element code (OPERA). In order to obtain a magnetic field that can penetrate deeply and safely to activate the brain’s c...

OBJECTIVES Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) has been proposed as an adjunctive modality for the treatment of swallowing disorders. We present data from a prospective case series to define and measure effects of a systematic therapy for chronic pharyngeal dysphagia using adjunctive NMES. METHODS Six adult patients with pharyngeal dysphagia received 15 sessions of a standardized prot...

OBJECTIVES To investigate the effect of 8 weeks of NMES + Ex (neuromuscular electrical stimulation combined with exercises) on pain and functional improvement in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) compared to exercise (Ex) alone. DESIGN Randomized controlled trial. SETTING A specialty outpatient clinic. PARTICIPANTS Patients (N = 100; women = 86, men = 14; age range, 50-75 years) with...