There are many therapies in place to help treat pain, and for many years, electrical stimulation has been used for this purpose. Neuromodulation is a fast-growing part of this treatment solution.
What Is Neuromodulation?
Neuromodulation delivers pharmaceutical or electrical agents specifically to an area of the body to affect or change nerves. It can be used to relieve pain, but it can also treat and stimulate nerves that are not working. This can reduce symptoms or even get specific systems of the body moving and working again.
The most recent advances allow nerves to be controlled by devices, which may eventually allow people to send messages from the brain to limbs and allow prosthetics to move more like actual limbs.
How Does Neuromodulation Work?
Neuromodulation works in two ways. In one form of therapy, pharmaceutical agents are delivered to a specific area to get a response in that one target without affecting the whole body and needing to be metabolized. In another form, specific nerves are actively stimulated so they manifest a response.
Neuromodulation involves applying a pulse generator to apply electrodes to a specific nerve or to the brain. A power source offers the needed electricity for a current to move to the nerve and provoke a response, such as stopping a pain signal or another unwanted response.
