this device alleviates pain by tricking your brain...
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4/6/16, 10:24 AMThis Device Alleviates Pain by Tricking Your Brain | Digital Trends
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Home Cool Tech New implantable device alleviates pain by tricking…
NEW IMPLANTABLE DEVICE ALLEVIATES PAIN BYTRICKING YOUR BRAIN WITH ELECTRICAL PULSESBy Kelly Hodgkins — April 6, 2016
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4/6/16, 10:24 AMThis Device Alleviates Pain by Tricking Your Brain | Digital Trends
Page 2 of 5http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/brain-pain-electrical-pulses/
The abuse and overuse of prescription pain medicine is a growing problem,
especially in the United States. To help reduce patients’ reliance on opiates and
other powerful pain medicines, a research team from the University of Texas at
Arlington has been working on an alternative method for controlling pain —
electrical stimulation of the brain.
The UTA researchers are not the first ones to explore electrical stimulation as a way
of managing pain. There already exists an experimental class of similar wearable
devices that take advantage of the technique known as transcutaneous electrical
nerve stimulation, or TENS. These devices deliver small and painless electrical
pulses to your nerves via electrodes placed on your skin. The pulses are designed
to confuse your nerves and cancel out the pain signal they’re sending to your brain
— thereby providing instant pain relief to the area of the body on which the
electrodes are placed.
The UTA device takes this technique a step further by working at the level of the
spinal cord, blocking pain signals so they don’t ever reach the brain. “This is the first
study to use a wireless electrical device to alleviate pain by directly stimulating the
ventral tegmental area of the brain,” said Yuan Bo Peng, UTA psychology professor.
Related: This crazy new wearable uses ‘neurostimulation’ to prime your brain and
body for exercise
UTA’s device was developed out of a personal experience with pain by researcher
J.C. Chiao, who suffers from pain due to slipped discs and pinched nerves in his
back and neck. He also watched his uncle struggle with pain management during
cancer treatment, giving him additional motivation to pursue the research.
The system Chiao’s team developed uses a custom-designed wireless device worn
by the patient that stimulates the ventral tegmental area of the brain. The results
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from the UTA study showed that the
stimulation of this part of this brain was
effective at reducing pain signals
traveling in the spinal cord. This
process not only blocks pain
transmissions, it also triggers the
release of dopamine, which has an
effect on the brain’s reward and
pleasure centers. “We have now
confirmed that stimulation of this area
of the brain can also be an analgesic tool,” said Peng in a statement about this
discovery.
The team is known for their breakthrough work in pain management and hopes to
continue their work in this area. “While still under laboratory testing, this new
method does provide hope that in the future we will be able to alleviate chronic pain
without the side effects of medications,” said Peng.
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