Pain

Exploring New Approaches to Pain Relief

Effective treatment of pain is a high priority across all areas of clinical practice. Although pharmaceuticals have historically been the primary treatment option for pain, the use of neuromodulation and neurostimulation techniques has increased significantly over the past few decades. Research on the use of neuromodulation for the treatment of pain has also grown rapidly within the FES Center because of the world class expertise of its investigators regarding the effects of electrical current on neural structures, collaborations with top clinical partners and the clear clinical imperative.

Pain Relief Program Overview

Current studies related to the study of pain relief are exploring and demonstrating the effective use of FES to treat a variety of pain symptoms. These have included the treatment of shoulder pain following stroke and for (non-stroke) musculoskeletal pain, such as lower back pain.

The Center has also studied the use of electrical stimulation to block neural responses, such as for amputee pain and several other acute and chronic pain applications. Additionally, the Center has studied neural modeling of spinal cord stimulation to improve the effectiveness of this established technique and reduce or eliminate its side effects, and has initiated new FES collaborations for facial pain, migraines, and several other applications.